The wood engravings of Carroll Thayer
Berry have become emblematic of Maine.
Prints like "Deer Isle Thoroughfare", "Retired
from the Sea" and "Lobsterman- Homeward Bound"
exemplify the richness and simplicity of Down East Maine.
His consummate craftsmanship and natural approach created a body
of work that is immediately recognizable as his.
Born in New Gloucester, Maine and working out of Rockport, Berry
chronicled
scenes from almost every town of Downeast and Midcoast Maine.
After an initial experimental period, he settled on the affordable
medium of the woodblock during the Depression before a late series
of compositions influenced by the theory of Dynamic Symmetry.
After completing his marine engineering studies at the University
of Michigan, he moved to Massachusetts where he worked as a mechanical
draftsman for an engineering firm. He went to Panama in 1910 to
participate in the construction of the Panama Canal, but contracted
malaria. It was while recuperating that he began taking art
classes at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
In 1915 he moved to Chicago and worked as an illustrator before
moving back to Maine
and eventually settling in Rockport.
