Teacher, writer, marine painter, and illustrator, Charles Herbert Woodbury studied engineering at MIT while pursuing an interest in painting and began teaching painting shortly after graduation. In 1890, after marrying his pupil, Marsha Oakes, the couple travelled throughout Europe.
In 1896, Woodbury purchased five acres of land from local farmer Jedediah Moses Perkins, which included the parcel where the Ogunquit Museum of American Art is sited. Woodbury constructed a studio — extant today — overlooking Perkins Cove. He began offering six-week summer classes in 1898. Woodbury’s successful school drew students from New England and New York, transforming Ogunquit into a major American art colony. Woodbury suspended classes during WWI and resumed teaching in 1924 until his death. Woodbury influenced thousands of American artists of the era — You don’t draw what you see of the wave, you draw what is does— and authored three books on the subject of teaching art.
