Article Summary

A simple blurb announcing the awards and honors of local artist Robert Strong Woodward and his friend and colleague Gardner Symons.

It is unclear what exhibition in Springfield RSW was honored. We are not aware of one in our records. There could have been a Springfield Art League event in March. RSW did have a modest "One-Man Show" at the J.H. Miller Galleries the following month.

Noteworthy:

Gardner Symons was very important to RSW, helping him launch his career as a landscape artist.

The following is an excerpt from our Gardner Symons scrapbook page.

"...It was about the year 1915 that he [RSW] decided to seek the opinion of the well-known local painter, Gardner Symons, concerning his work. He took several of his large paintings over to the Symons studio to be critiqued. Mr. Symons was greatly impressed and advised him to send several of them to an exhibition in Boston. Here they received much acclaim in the year 1918. The following year, 1919, he sent the large oil Between Setting Sun and Rising Moon to the yearly exhibit of the National Academy of Design in New York City. This painting won the First Hallgarten Prize for this year and was even purchased by Mr. Hallgarten himself for his personal collection. Woodward's professional career was now off and running. Many articles about him were written and he began to exhibit widely."