Monhegan Museum

Bertrand H. Wentworth, The Dark Pool

n.d., gelatin silver print, 13 5/8 x 10 3/4 inches, Monhegan Museum, Gift of Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr.

Bertrand H. Wentworth, The Haven

n.d., platinum print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, Monhegan Museum, gift of Remak Ramsay.

Bertrand H. Wentworth, The Last Tree

circa 1915, gelatin silver print, 10 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches, Monhegan Museum, gift of Clark H. Gleason.

Bertrand H. Wentworth, The Sun-Wake

circa 1915, gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 inches, Monhegan Museum, Gift of Clark H. Gleason.

An Enchanted Camera: Bertrand Wentworth's Photographs of Monhegan Island

June 24-September 30, 2015

Bertrand Wentworth’s stunning photographs of Monhegan capture the artist’s emotional response to the beauty of the island that he returned to each summer during the first half of the twentieth century. A native of Gardiner, Wentworth made his way west working in a variety of occupations and befriended photographer William Henry Jackson while he was in Denver, Colorado. His success managing a quarry in Michigan allowed him to resettle in Maine in 1913 and dedicate himself to photography. Wentworth wrote about the relationship between art and photography at a time when many were arguing for photography’s place among the fine arts, maintaining that it was “a worthy medium for the expression of beauty.” His Monhegan photographs reveal his heightened sensitivity to shifting light and weather conditions along the coast, and capture the peace and solitude of life on an island 12 miles out to sea.