Charles Hawthorne: His Interests

"Self-Portrait" by Charles Hawthorne

"As might be expected from Charles Hawthorne's absorption with portraying the people of Provincetown, it was biography that interested him most in his reading. Mark Twain and Dickens were also favorites of his. Music was also one of his great loves, and this can be seen from the number of parallels he draws from music in his criticism. In New York he was a great concertgoer, and, as far back as I can remember, there was chamber music in the house. He started as a cornetist in the Richmond town band, and took up the cello later on.

In the 'Notes' are many references to the part played by hard work in the development of a painter. No one ever practiced better what he preached, for he was always at work in his studio by eight o'clock, and the volume of work he produced was impressive. With all this he was a warm and enthusiastic companion because of his ability to enjoy life. He loved people, and convivial occasions were numerous in the household.

Of course his relationship with young people, especially his students, needs a special chapter. Looking back on my experiences when studying music, it seems to me that there were an amazing number of scholarships at the Cape Cod School of art. Certainly the talent that assembled there each summer - sometimes only through extraordinary hardships - deserved them, but I know how seldom, as a rule, such need is recognized. Besides providing this large number of scholarships at his own school, he was instrumental in helping talented students in other schools, and also did such things as get up a purse to start off a gifted young Negro painter in Europe, since he would have no opportunity on this side of the Atlantic. To me, as his son, it is most heart-warming to discover, when I meet his former students, with what esteem and affection they still hold him." 

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Hawthorne on Painting" by Charles Webster Hawthorne.)