A Luminist of the New England Coast Charles Webster Hawthorne, born in Lodi, Illinois, in 1872, stands as a pivotal figure in American art during a period defined by transition and burgeoning national identity. Though his earliest years unfolded inland, it was the rugged, windswept coastline of Maine—to which his parents returned shortly after his birth—that would indelibly shape his artistic vision. This profound connection to the sea, instilled through childhood experiences with his father’s profession as a ship captain and ice farmer, became a recurring motif throughout his career, inform…