Woodbury was born in Lynn, Massachusetts
July 14, 1864 the son of Seth H. Woodbury and Mary Parker. He
graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with
an Engineering Degree with Honors, 1882-1886. He took a few Life
Classes at the Boston Art Club, 1883. After marrying Susan Marcia
Oakes (1865-1913) in 1890, the couple went to study in Holland
and then Paris, Charles at the Academie Julian in Paris with Boulanger
and Lefebvre and Marcia at the Laxar’s School, 1890-1891.
He was a member of the Salmagundi Club (1899); an Associate (1906)
and an Academician (1907) at the National Academy of Design; Ogunquit
Art Association; Society of Water Color Painters; New York Water
Color Club; Guild of Boston Artists; Boston Society of Watercolor
Painters. He won awards at the Lynn Art Exhibition for Amateurs
(1880); Boston Art Club (1884, 1895); Atlanta Exposition (gold,
1895); Nashville, Tennessee Centennial (1897), Mechanics’
Fair, Boston; Paris Exposition (1900); Pan-American Exposition,
Buffalo (1901); Worcester Art Museum (1903,1907); St. Louis Exposition
(1904); Carnegie Institute (1905); Buenos Aires Exposition (1910);
American Water Color Society (1911); W.A. Clark Prize and Corcoran
Medal (1914); Pan-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco (gold, 1915);
Penn. Academy of F.A. (gold, 1924); Brooklyn (1931); Palmer Marine
Prize and Ranger Fund Award, National Academy (1932); Noyes Prize,
Society of American Artists (1933). He is represented at the Gardner
Museum; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Herron
Art Institute; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; St. Louis Art Museum;
Boston Public Library; Berkshire Atheneum; Detroit Art Institute;
Metropolitan Museum of Art; Joslyn Art Museum; Worcester Art Museum;
R.I. School of Design; Telfair Academy, Savannah; Colby College;
Wellesley Colllege and in 100’s of other museums and institutions.
Woodbury was given over 60 one-man exhibitions, the first being
at the J. Eastman Chase Gallery, Boston (1887) and the last at
the Winchester Public Library, MA (1939). 18 Memorial Shows were
given (1940-41). In 1945 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston held
a Retrospective Exhibition. In 1968, Adelson Galleries, Inc. (then
of Boston) and in 1978 Vose Galleries of Boston gave Retrospectives.
In 1988 M.I.T. gave a monumental Woodbury exhibition titled Earth,
Sea and Sky that traveled to museums through 1993. Woodbury taught
art at the Worcester Art Association (1895); Wellesley College
(1899-1906; 1913-1914); Dartmouth College; Pine Hill School (1907-1910);
Ogunquit summer art school (1898-1939); Director, Woodbury School,
Boston; Associate Professor, School of the Chicago Art Institute.
Author: The Art of Seeing (1925) and Painting and the Personal
Equation (1922). He was survived by his son David O. Woodbury
of California (b. 1896).
