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The Friends Of Woodward is a group of RSW "appreciators" whose mission is to preserve, promote, and perpetuate his artistic legacy. The group typically meets the 3^rd Thursday of every month and those interested in joining, please do not hestitated to contact them through the link below. ALL ARE WELCOMED...

The organization is a qualifiied 501(c)3 status organization. This means that donations to the organization are tax deductible should you wish to make a contributuion.

Since 2007, the website, in conjunction with the Buckland Historical Society, has produced a yearly calendar to benefit the Historical Society. Usually available in November of the current year, it can be purchased locally or through the website.

Recent Website Updates

• 50+ new drawings and sketches
• New recollections from letters to the ASG
• More updated pages and new information, including new pages for friend Helen Ives Shermerhorn, famous owners; jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr; and Metorpolitan Opera Director Robert Johnson
• Picture gallery of all Woodward, family & friends photographs

Reason #2 why we do this... A man watches a movie on TMC, notices the producer's name and believes he knows relatives of said producer, goes to Google to look the producer up, and FINDS us! He writes us to tell us what he knows and may have solved a missing link regarding the provenance of a painting. It makes it ALL worthwhile!

Located for sale on eBay, this unsigned painting is attributed to RSW. Attached to the back in RSW's handwriting is the location, Westlake Park and date, 1910. Read our research into the park and the possibility this was painted the year he left LA for Boston...

This previously unknown, signed and dated painting came to us by its current owner contacting us. It is one of RSW's earliest paintings as a professional, and he signed it "R Woodward 1918." We couldn't be more pleased to welcome it home!

In one of our MORE remarkable discoveries, we recently have learned of RSW friend Helen Patch who when asked by the Deerfield Academy's 1969-70 American Studies Group to offer any recollections of Woodward. She related some gems as well as provided insightful assessments of the artist.

Asked by the Deerfield Academy's 1969-70 American Studies Group to offer any recollections of Woodward. Mr. Vose, RSW's Boston art broker gave two wonderful stories he heard from RSW. One is hysterically funny and classic RSW, the other shows how private the artist was as well...

A black-and-white of the original sepia taken by Ashworth was found at the Buckland Historical Society and far better than anything the website had, and so we made a copy to add to the website.

On a visit by good friend F. Earl Williams in 1945, Williams brought along with him Kodachrome color film, which at the time was less than a decade old and took color pictures of his visit. Included in those pictures is a picture of this painting along side the subject of the painting, the east window.

New information found on this painting's buyer, Dr. Amey Chappell a prominent physician, and recipient of the 1967 Elizabeth Blackwell Medal given by the American Medical Women's Association, its highest honor, qualifies her as though not "famous, famous" famous enough for us to recognize her!

It started as a simple email inquiry from the historical society and led to the discovery of the location of where this chalk drawing was drawn, just off the Four Corners of Buckland where Ashfield, Hawley and Buckland all intersect. See our new graphics illustrating its perspective.

Added to the Woodward catalog is this painting named in the "The Helen Patch Letters" by Mrs. Patch. The painting was also loaned to the Deerfield Academy's 1970 Hilson Gallery exhibition honoring RSW but inexplicably was left off their list.

After all these years of trying we finally have an original image of this beautiful 'sugaring' painting. Up until now we had previously used scaned images of the painting taken from print material for which it was published.

Wow, what a find! This wonderful painting of the Beech Tree in Heath is unnamed and unsigned. It is of the the tree in baring its fall foliage colors. It is in great condition.

The image of this painting was discovered in a collection of KodaChome slides taken by RSW friend and amatuer photographer, Mr. F. Earl Williams himself and given to the Smithsonian Institute under his name as part of RSW's collection.

We have had a pretty good picture of this painting for some time now but we always look to get the best possible picture of a painting and we succeeded with the lastest pic of this painting.

Window Paintings are always difficult to photograph. Often the brown color of the wood paneling around the windows produces a glare that is hard to avoid, but we magange to in this new pic of this gorgeous painting.

The image of this painting was discovered in a collection of KodaChome slides taken by RSW friend and amatuer photographer, Mr. F. Earl Williams. We could not match it to any known paintings and it appears unsigned as well.

This has always been a difficult painting to photograph. RSW's use of light in the silk backdrop often produces an ambient glare when introduced to bright light needed to photograph... but we are getting closer to its natural look with this latest attempt.

FINALLY! We have been hoping to get some color image of this painting, a fav of RSW's, for some time. The image of this painting was discovered in a collection of KodaChome slides taken by RSW friend and amatuer photographer, Mr. F. Earl Williams.

It is so difficult to capture how striking some of RSW's work can be. Nothing can substitute seeing it in person and this painting is one of them, but we will keep trying to get the best picture we can until it comes close.

One of RSW's most unique pieces of work, drawn during his stay in Boston in 1930. Our new pictures of this drawing now includes close up pics of the people on the street and the window planters high above the scene.

A truly spectacular work by Woodward. This illumination features a woman playing the cello by an open door and heraldic device containing poetry. Both the artwork and verse done by RSW early in his career as a commercial artist.

One of two chalk drawings with the same name, this piece features a stream of autumn red running through a line of trees. It immediately reminds one of a Chinese Parade Dragon of which we believe RSW derived the name.

This is an extraordinary find! Woodward was known to have an adversion to doing portraits because he did not feel confident enough to paint them to his satisfaction. To learn that he had done a self-portrait when he was 13 years old simply shocked us.

A rare upright chalk drawing, this piece features a stunning sky above the Heath Pasture and Beech Tree in May. While May was a frequent subject of RSW's Beech Tree, this drawing is from an unusal perspective, not from the front of his studio but rather to the left of it.

A really unique painting. An early, impasti-styled and impressionistic sunset featuring a sun, with astomospheric purplish-pink skies, and as many as 9 distinct horizons! Woodward signed it but a name could not be found. This is really a rare treat given RSW preferred the skies of the north and south.

Reminicent of RSW's Beech Tree, this piece has a tall elm standing alone overlooking a valley of hills. It is unnamed, unsigned and feels incomplete or unfinished but we are glad to add it to our catalogue. Even unfinished, it is wonderfully Woodward's distinct perspective.

We recently added a new page for the original chalk drawing RSW mentions in his painting diary from which he made both In Old Boston and The Oyster House: Boston Romance. He never names the chalk in his comments.

Both of these pages have been revised as the result of the new information found in Unnamed: Across the Valley.

This painting recently came up for auction at Skinner Inc. and sold for $4,000. It is an early impressionistic piece of an ancient apple tree in bloom with hills in the distance but what is more remarkable was the sketch of what appears to be a version of Through The Hills in May

We have new hi-res images of this beautiful chalk drawing. We were also able to pinpoint a location from where we believe RSW drew it, with topographical maps.

A new signed but unnamed Quintessential Redgate painting featuring an atmospheric deep wood moonlit blue hazed brook and signed using a red "W" instead of RSW's trademark "S".

Going through a pile of loose documents, we came across a good-conditioned leaflet with an image of this painting on it and though still not great was better than the picture we have been using.

We had the opportunity to take new pictures of this terrific painting of the Connecticut River from Putney, Vermont. We revised the page to include a Google Earth screen capture of the river curve today.

It was recently discovered that a painting illustrated in an issue of McCall's Magazine (Dec. 1927) is this unnamed and unsigned painting found in 2017. The illustration was incorrectly attributed to the wife of RSW close friend and confidant Dr. Lawrence Lunt suggesting that the Lunt's may have been in possession of the painting at the time.

The Unnamed Gallery has been completely revamped. No longer will we assign numbers to them. Instead, we have given them adopted temporary names using "Unnamed" as a prefix.

In an old archive we recently found a glossy black and white picture of a never before seen painting by the name "The" Hill Road. There is no relation to another painting by the same name so that painting will now be known as "A" Hill Road.

Speaking of "A" Hill Road... when making the necessary revisions to the page noting "The" Hill Road, we realized that we can mark the spot where it was painted. Check out the Google Earth screen captures to see it has hardly changed in 70 years.

Also found along with The Hill Road picture was a better, more detailed photograph of August Horizon! What is particularly spectacular is the magnificent sky painted by Woodward. We cannot wait for the day we get hold of a color image of this painting to see what colors he used.

One of the newer features we have been adding to the artwork pages are topographical map graphics giving approximate vantage points of where RSW may have painted a particular painting. Well with Summer Valley we go a step further adding graphic AND a 1907 picture facing his location.