Quick Reference

Dates:
December 8, 1926

Location:
Second Floor Ballroom
Home of Ronald T. Lyman
38 Beacon Street
Boston, MA

Number of Pieces: 26
25 - Oil
1 - Chalk

Awards:
N/A

Categories:
One-Man Show

Noteworthy:

Mrs. Lyman, wanting to introduce RSW to the Boston art world, sponsored this exhibition in her home to which noted art collector John Spaulding purchased The Window: Still Life and a Winter Scene (wrongly cited as My Winter Shelf, in newspapers articles.

Related Links

Related Articles

Boston Globe, Dec. 8, 1926
Click image to see article
Springfield Union, Unknown
Click image to see article

Exhibition: One-Man Show: Robert Strong Woodward
Sponser: Mrs. Ronald T. Lyman

Buckland Town Farm
39 Beacon Street, Boston - Today

Source: Google Maps

See artwork exhibited, below, at the bottom of this page!

Mrs. Ronald T. Lyman's maiden name is Elizabeth Van Cortlandt Parker. She was the daughter of Colonial James Parker a distinguished military officer. She married Ronald T. Lyman (1904), son of textile magnet Arthur T. Lyman of Lowell, MA, in 1904. Ronald Lyman was active in the arts, having served as president of the historic Boston Anthenaeum for a number of years. The Lyman's moved to 39 Beacon Street some time after the death of Ronald's father Arthur(1915 - '16) who had owned the home since approxiately 1905 - '06.

Source: backbayhouses.org/138-beacon and google books.com

An excerpt from one of the articles related to this event states, "It is certain that Mrs. Lyman made a discovery of some importance to art when she discovered Robert Strong Woodward painting up in the hill country around Shelburne Falls..." It was also pointed out that RSW was not completely unknown having had a piece of art (a winter scene) prominently displayed at a recent Boston Art Club exhibition. One way or the other, the reporter of this story (A.J. Philpott) implied this event was a 'coming out party' or coranation for Woodward and the Boston art scene.


Not much is known regarding the frequency to which Mrs. Lyman sponsored and hosted exhibits at her home because our staff could not find anything. It is safe to guess that this was a rare occurance. It is also noteworthy to mention that Mrs. Lyman again sponsored an exhibition of RSW's work in 1929, however, this was held at the Myles Standish gallery.


Additional Notes

Boston Globe, 1926
Boston Globe, 1926, mis-captioning the image
as "My Winter Shelf"

As a result of an error by the press, it is widely cited that renown art collector John Spaulding purchased the piece titled My Winter Shelf. It was even featured and captioned incorrectly in the article seen to your right. Our research has determined that My Winter Shelf was actually purchased by Mrs. Henry Everett upon her death. and gifted to the Pasadena Art Museum in California upon her death in 1938.


The artwork actually purchased by Mr. Spaulding is The Window: Still Life and a Winter Scene. This piece now is part of the Spaulding Collection found at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.


For more on the story of these two paintings see our related Scrapbook story My Winter Shelf / The Window: Still Life and A Winter Scene or click the given links to either artwork page.


See artwork exhibited, below, at the bottom of this page.


Page features:

All the thumbnails below and images to the right can be enlarged by clicking on them.


A slide show of the available artwork images is also available by CLICKING HERE.


Exhibitied Artwork