Again, We are sorry for the delays updating the website:
We have all had them. Those times when one thing after another takes you off your course
for an extended period of time. It happens. It is a part of life. I am not complaining. It is all turning out better than it
was. As I posted previously, my computer started crashing, the fan failing after 8 good years. It was time to buy a new one
which is not as easy as one may think, even for profess-ionals like me and Larch.
A lot of decisions have to be made and too
many choices on the market. We did find one, a beauty with the perfect screen width, processor, and RAM size. Unfortunately,
it wouldn't arrive in time before I had to go to another state to attend to a personal family matter so the decision was
made to send it there and I missed the first delivery (ugh!). Making matters worse there was a good chance I might miss the
second one too! The package was too expensive to just leave at the door. It required a signature and not just any one. It had
to me me. Only I could sign for it.
The long and short of it is that I finally got the new computer the afternoon before I was to return home with it saving myself no time whatsoever. Everything went well with the personal matter to. Again, an example of an inconvenient diversion turning out for the better. I am not out of the woods yet. I can't start work back on the website until I set up the new computer, reload the software and apps I use, etc. That can take a couple to a few days. When all is said and done, it is March 20th, eleven days to get something together for you to have new updates.
Typically, to get back in the grove I like to start out with tackling the next webpage on
my audit list. That page was a painting named In October Hills. This painting is related to four other paintings which
was in-convenient but not impossible to do and heck it might just give me 5 new updates! But it soon becomes obvious there are some
issues with RSW's diary comments. It was not going to be as easy as I hoped. What's more is, a critical piece of in-formation to
sort everything out... has to wait until a week-end. Ugh, okay, let's go to the NEXT painting on the list, In Old Boston,
oil. Oh boy, no better than the previous page... in fact, that painting is related to maybe as many as 6 paintings (yikes) and
they are all a complete mess as well.
So here we are, I am six days late updating the homepage and website because in the
past week, the weather has caused some havoc in the neighborhood; lost power and twice had no internet service from the provider;
another emergency popped up with another family member that required a couple days of my attention; etc. I even found myself
experiencing my first earthquake for a solid 20 - 30 seconds and we have an impending total solar eclipse on the way. What a
crazy 40 plus days.. Enjoy the new updates below. Best wishes...
March 3, 1929, Utica (NY) Dispatch
Welcome to RobertStrongWoodward.com! The website is divided into two main features. First is the
Gallery of Woodward's artwork sorted in themes and then alphabetically. There is also the Scrapbook which contains
collections of stories, memorabilia and specific citations related to Woodward, his life and achievements. It is at once a tribute and historical record of Woodward
and the life and times from which he drew his inspiration.
Not only known for his landscape paintings, Woodward had a pas-sion for the restoration and preservation of aging buildings. In his life as a professional artist, he took an unused old diary shed and converted it to his first studio, Redgate. He then purchased an abandoned farm, the old Hiram Woodward Place, and restored it to a show piece of old New England. He then purchased an old mill (Boehmer's Mill) nearby and returned it to its former glory. After a tragic fire burned Hiram in 1934, he purchased another abandon farm, the Southwick Place featuring its early 19th century blacksmith shop into a model of New England tradition that appears today as it did when he lived there... His studios are a reflection of his values.
The galleries consist of nearly 800 known works of art created by Woodward. We have some form of an image for approximately 75% of them! The galleries are organized in two ways.
The first is the Theme Gallery, sorted into 25 categories. The second is alphabetical, making up 8 separate galleries plus a gallery of artwork RSW didn't name or we do not have a name
for at this time. Plus, visit our Complete Works List and surf the website from there!
In addition to the artwork, when available, we provide additional notes and background related to the artwork, as well as, links to related paintings or locations for a richer
experience and connection to the area.
The Recollections Scrapbook is a collect-ion of personal ac-counts from people who either knew Wood-ward personally or related to us an experi-ence they have had related to Woodward. A number of the stories told come from this website's originator, Mark Purinton (seen in picture to the left with Woodward), who started working for Woodward as a boy
.This is our "story behind the paintings" collection. It includes some of Wood-ward's favorite subjects, such as, his neighbor Harrison Keach's Farm, the Halifax (VT) House and the North Window of his Southwick studio. There is also Charlemont Bridge artwork before the bridge was destroyed in the hurriciance of 1938 and Marlboro Church, part of a "church series" Woodward was commissioned for by industrialist Francis P. Garvin before his death.
Recent Website Updates |
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We are looking to add greater depth of insight that fleshes out more context than we have ever had about Woodward's career as well as
his personal values and principles. The stories just begin to tell themselves. And something like that results from processing the information one has
available, turning it into empirical (measurable) data. Once it has been compiled, it then needs to be interpreted and analyzed and you start to see
patterns and connections that are not always obvious despite being right under your nose for years.
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UPDATE: Apr. 6, 2024
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03-24-2024
UPDATED In October Hills The next painting on the list for our audit turned out to be much more than we expected. This is the first of 3 very similar com-posite paintings made by Woodward between the winter of 1942 and some-time in late 1944. All three paintings are differ-ent sizes. Each one has tiny variations and differ-ences in the scenes that prompted us to update a total of 5 web pages which led to the discovery of two new images as well as the swapping of names of two images we incorrectly labelled years ago. |
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03-31-2024
UPDATED Through October Hills The second painting of this series of similar scenes put together by Woodward using two other paintings was intended for
the same customer as the first and it was still not sold. Woodward drastically changed the perspective. He altered both the
tree grouping to the left and stonewall on the right for a more dramatic effect. |
04-06-2024
UPDATED New England in November The third and more tempered painting of Woodward's composite series using the farm from Just After Haying Time and the road of Wind'll Blow Hill to paint this very romantic scene. It was not until we did an overlay of the two images we had of these painting did we discover we had them mixed up according to RSW's painting diary. Wind'll Blow Hill Researching the issue above we found a new and better sepia image swapping it out with the old one. Just After Haying Time Minor updates were made and added. |
03-27-2024
NEW PAGE In Old Boston, oil, 27"x 30" There has always been confusion surrounding this painting that border-ed on an existential crisis- it is or is it not a painting? Well, we have confirmed that it is. Not only that, we sort out the whole mess that is Woodward's Bos-ton paintings to learn that there are 6 Old Boston paintings, of 2 different scenes all exhibiting between 1931 and '35. Old Boston, oil, 40"x 50" This painting is one of 3 of the same scene seen in the chalk drawing by the same name, In Old Boston. This was estab-lished after discovering this piece hung with the pastel at the Mt. Holyoke College event in 1931. |
04-03-2024
UPDATED In Old Boston, Chalk Three paintings, 2 oils and this chalk, all with basically the same name, does not make it easy on us to figure out what is what in regard to the Boston paintings but thank goodness RSW kept this pastel for himself. Otherwise we would have no idea what there is a second scene the artist also painted in oil as well. In Old Boston, oil, 36"x 42" This page was updated to reflect the new inform-ation established by the exhibition list. However, we did add a cool feature illustrating an image of the scene from In Old Boston, chalk, to make a list of all of the art work in the order we believe they were made and identify-ing what is the subject of the painting- - neighbor-hood or oyster house. |
01-04-2024
RESTORED! When Drifts Melt Fast This painting owned by the estate has deterior-ated so much over the past decade it was pack-ed and stored until we could get it restored. One of
the artist most cele-brated paintings, it was never sold and the rea-son may very well have been because RSW knew it would not last the test of time. |
01-11-2024
QUESTIONS In Apple Blossom Time A painting name we have no image for and only one record of (a news-paper article) comes into question. Is it really a painting or was the name mistaken for another painting omitted from the article? While we could not come to any answer with confidence, the questions tell an interest-ing story that links two paintings made at the same location, roughly at the same time- one with an unquestioned name and the other, nameless. The nameless one could very well be the painting by this name only we have no way of confirm-ing it. |
01-18-2024
NEW IMAGE Up the Winter Valley We recently came across a picture of this painting's sepia print that is better than the one we were using. It was found in the pictures Larch took
during his visit to the Smithsonian a couple of years back. It was found in the "Harold Grieve" papers of Woodward's collection. |
01-25-2024
SPECIAL ITEM In November As part of our artwork page audits we are also re-thinking the inform-ation we have for each piece and connecting it with other related pieces. For this 1946 painting, sold to the artist dear friend Ethel Dow, the related piece is a sketch made of the same scene sometime in the mid-1930s. RSW mentions in his painting diary that Ethel had been saving for several years to buy a painting and that this one, "seemed to hold her choice of 'everything'," and we are wondering if he had arranged this all intentionally? Read the story and see how we put a few things together indicating a poetic fate. |
01-31-2024
OTHERS In Early March This page has been reorganized and updated, however, there is now a question as to here the name came from because a label on the stretcher has a different name. In Keach's Barn A painting name with no image, but not hard to surmise the subject and scene of the painting we suspect might have been made special for Wood-ward's first Smith College exhibition. In New England Another painting name with no image. Still, we offer some possibilities of what the subject of this chalk drawing may be... |
11-11-2023
NEW GALLERY Award Winners Gallery The moment the idea came to us we realized it was necessary, for context, to assemble an image gallery solely devoted to Woodward's award winning paintings. There are twenty that we know of in his 37 year career. Two paintings won two awards each making it actually 18 total paintings. We pictures of 18 of the winners, and one is an image of a smaller version of the original. We also include the 3 paintings invited to 3 World Fairs as well as the four paintings to hang at the 1938 International Rotary Convention held in Boston. |
11-11-2023
MOST AWARDED Out the North Window One of only two multiple prize winning paintings by Woodward, this particular one held pretty high ex-pectation from the artist. In his painting diary he referred to his Honorable Mention prize at the Jordan Marsh show as "miserable" and made NO mention whatsoever of his First Prize for Best Still Life at the annual Ogunquit, Maine, exhib-ition. Oqunquit and Jordan Marsh are two of maybe just a handful of the most esteemed events in New England attracting the best of the best artist regionally and nationally. To receive any prize from either is a high and esteemed honor. |
11-11-2023
OTHERS... New England Heritage We have added new in-formation concerning the 1932 Boston Art Club ex-hibition. An article by art critic Alice Lawton offers new context to the im-portance of Woodward's 2nd prize. New England Origins The other double prize winning painting doesn't offer much in new inform-ation but deserves a fresh look. March Light A quick search of the buyer of this prize winning painting unearth yet another prominent owner whose name and occupation Woodward incorrectly cited in his painting diary. We made the correction and added new material to the page. |
11-11-2023
IDENTIFIED June Corn It has never been known what painting won 2nd Prize and the 1937 Albany Institute of History & Art event. Our research has revealed it was this painting. Not only that, Woodward was the only non-Hudson Valley artist invited to the show which was also exclusively held for artist who qualified for the The WPA Federal Art Project. We know Woodward qualified, however, to this day we do not know what he did with the grant, if anything. |
11-04-2023
NEW PICS "Gold" We had the great pleas-ure to visit the So. Ver-mont Art Center (SVAC) in Manchester, VT. They are in possession of an early Woodward painting and
the SVAC's Exhibi-tions Manager Alison Crites extended us the courtesy of pulling it out of storage for us to see and photograph. We learned some puzzling
things that has left us in a bind as to what to do about it which is a good problem to have. |
10-26-2023
CORRECTIONS 1. The Village in Spring 2. April in North Hadley 3. The Village In April & 4. April in the Village We found an old color image of what we assum-ed to be The Village in Spring (1). Only after a lot of work did we realize: It was NOT. Moreover, it can't be April in North Hadley (2) either because that painting is the origi-nal painting cut down to be renamed The Village in Spring! The chalk drawing, The Village in Spring, (3) was believed to be mislabeled in an article, which we now believe was actually referring to the image we found. Leaving its name to be- April in the Village (4) once believed to be the mixed up name of the chalk and not a real painting. Phew... |
10-21-2023
NEW PICS The Hungry Little Barn When we began to update and make new discoveries regarding this work of art we also reached out to its owner who we had not had contact with in nearly 16 years. It was a shot in the dark. We weren't sure any of our information would still be good. We posted our changes and promoted them only to receive new images a few days later. Thank you so much! |
10-18-2023
NEW PICS Winter Peace This painting recently appeared on an art website. No name was given for it. It was refer-red to generically as "Winter Landscape." Yet, we had a corresponding sepia print labeled, Winter Peace. Unfortunately, there are 3 paintings by that same name. One is definitely not this painting leaving two others. However, this one does not match RSW's diary comment. Go to the page for more! |
10-15-2023
NEW INFORMATION & UPDATED PAGE The Silo Paintings: New Silo, In the November Sun, and Unfinished Silo In the process of correcting two broken links on the New Silo artwork page we needed to check other related pages, which included
reviewing an essay written by this website's founder, Dr. Mark Purinton in 2006. It has held up well over time. We did not have anything to add to it.
The page just needed a reform-atting with some of the new tools we use throughout the website. I (Brian) informed Larch what I was doing
and he (Larch) tells me he just came across new material his father wrote to add to the Silo page! |
09-05-2023
NEW PICS Drying Nets; T Wharf We have known about this pastel painting for some time but we had NO idea what it could possibly entail. More than that, we believed the name was wrong. Did you know that there was once a wharf at the end of North Boston's Long Wharf? Or that it was called the "T" Wharf? We didn't. Also, we were under the impression it was made the year Woodward stayed in Bos-ton for a month- nope try again. Enjoy this read. |
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09-08-2023
NEW PICS An October Pasture We are digging deep into the mountains of folders and files collected since the start of the website. The objective is multifaceted, however, one of the primary objectives is to find images once thought lost forever. This is one of those photos. More over, this is one of Woodward's favorite subjects and this piece the prize of the 3 we know and probably the couple of others we suspect exist. |
Unnamed: Greylock from Heath We erred here... the sepia print we believed was an unnamed artwork was in fact the sepia print for
After Rain. |
09-15-2023
NEW PICS Unnamed: Late Summer in Halifax This sepia print of a painting was mislabeled a long time ago as the sepia for a painting named Aged Roofs. We recently found a better scan of the print and realized it was NOT Aged Roofs but an entirely different and unknown painting. Aged Roofs is a spring painting whereas this is a late summer scene. The better pic allowed us to see the sky was very different. It is the only "unnamed" paint-ing of the Halifax House we have. |
09-18-2023
NEW PICS Back of the Village It surprises us sometimes what we lose track of, such as a much better picture of a painting than what is currently on the website. This is one of those times... we recently came across an image of this painting from a few years ago that far exceeded the old, low resolution, image we had on its page. In updating the page we realized some other things missed when we last updated it over a year ago. Primarily, what makes it special in both time and space. |
09-24-2023
NEW PIC Unnamed: Keach's Drama This new image of the 40" x 50" oil painting comes to us from the Southern Vermont Art Center in Manchester, VT. The painting was gifted to them by a close friend of the artist. It is a wintry and dramatic scene of the Keach Farm from a distance precar-iously hanging along the side of the hill. What is great about it is that it shows the entirety of the farm and we created a graphic linking the buildings to various paintings. |
09-22-2023
UPDATED Horizon of Heath As part of our update of the artwork pages, we are adding whatever context we can find connected to the artwork. For this painting we have discovered clue suggest-ing that this painting may be more important than realized. First RSW gives us his most detailed diary entry describing the piece, there is no evid-ence it exhibits, and then he sells it to a VIP just months after his Heath Studio burns... |
09-21-2023
UPDATED The Home Road This 20" x 40" painting has the distinction of being one of Woodward's rarest 1937 to 1945 ex-periments. The artist was toying with assembling paintings using combin-ations of other paintings. He made a series of wide panoramic paintings which had become the fashion of the time to hang on the mantle over the fireplace. This paint-ing is one of only five and his most ambitious that has a link to another that did not work at all. |
09-20-2023
UPDATED Hitchcock Elm This artwork page has been updated and we learn from Woodward's diary comments that it is similar to Out of the Past.
Only this version was sent to his friend Harold Grieve on the West Coast to sell. This was something the artist did when he had a subject
worthy painting and the original was bought by a highly regarding VIP. |
09-20-2023
UPDATED The Hungry Little Barn The advantage to going back and lending a criti-cal eye to each and every artwork page is just how much a fresh look can reveal. This pastel is a great example. Not only were we able to connect it to another, better known pastel and the same farm but the two paintings appear the same year, exhibit to-gether at the same show, and follow a similar traj-ectory across the country to land in the same state through different owners! |
08-27-2023
NEW PASTEL! Where the Stonewall Joins the Ledge This chalk drawing comes to us from its own-er with a story that it was a wedding gift, given in 1915. There is no reason to doubt the story. For one thing, Woodward loved personalizing his gifts. For another, al-though oil paintings dom-inate our attention, the pastel paintings were there from the beginning in 1918 and getting more praise. |
09-02-2023
NEW PICS The Lone Tree A trip to Stockbridge to visit their public library, and have some lunch at the country store of the Rockwell mural of Main St. fetched us a new
picture of this painting. It also revealed some other things that clears up some confusion and confirmed other things. |
08-15-2023
PAINTING STORY Heart of New England If it has not become ob-vious yet, it soon will. We are making a concerted effort, in part as tribute to Paul Harvey's, "... and now you know The
REST of the Story," feature of his radio program to look at the backstory of certain paintings for greater context. |
06-21-2023
UPDATED The Three Barns This was updated a couple of months ago as part of our efforts to bring together and link exhibitions with their articles. This is one of those paintings that because we do not have the greatest of pictures, it gets neglected. If you do not know this, Woodward did not like neglect and so we gave this page some love. We connect it to another, better image we have of the same barns from a different angle along with the praise it got in a newspaper clipping. |
07-09-2023
UPDATED Opalescent April With no image of this painting, it is one of the overlooked but its name is important, or rather we say opalescence is important to Woodward. But that is another story for another time. What is of import on this page is its role in drawing our attention to Woodward's handling of the situation AFTER his Hiram home and studio fire. On this page is the article where he addresses the rumors and misinformation being published in defense of his reputation. |
06-28-2023
CORRECTION Gray New England Since the beginning of the website, this painting's name was listed as "Grey NE" due to contradicting inform-ation. The evidence was looking us right in the face but it was from a traditionally inaccurate source. It took us a while to comb through all of the information we have and found enough evidence to change the name and we share the story with you. |
06-27-2023
A GOLDEN RULE The Golden Month & The Golden Slope We have long suspected that the names of both these paintings are related to the Golden Ratio more than the season of autumn
(though still related). But the Golden Ratio (based on the Fibbiaci Sequence showing the natural proportions of distribution found in nature).
Proportion is important to composition and you will find the aspect called the Golden Spiral in a large number of beautiful art work. Woodward
is no exception to this, only with these two paintings the spiral is notably intentional, thus the name. |
06-15-2023
PAINTING STORY Grace of Years Another one of those painting stories that has an odd journey... from being bought by the new owner of the Halifax (VT) House, to being returned to Woodward, it's exhibition record, being part of the October 1946 issue of American Artist, to selling again at the Founder's Show of the Grand Central Art Gallery in New York City. |
06-20-2023
SOME CONTEXT Great Faith in God Alone We are making an effort to offer some greater context to Woodward's early work. One of those facets is his interest in making Illuminations. It is an art form with a long history and tradition tied to the undercurrect of Woodward's faith and aspirations. It is important not to underestimate how powerful its draw is to him. It is primordial in its origin. |
01-19-2023
A NEW STORY From a May Pasture This painting's story is almost comically tragic. It is a personal favorite of RSW's. Its buyer dies just days before its comple-tion. It exhibits at a show with another painting of a familiar subject by a fri-end of Woodward's that gets more attention as well as RSW's ire. It is the first incident of RSW's defense of his brand from being co-opted by others. |
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05-01-2023
AN ESSAY The Evolution of the Window Picture Painting, Part 1 In the first of what will be 3 parts, we introduce to you the evolution of Woodward's well-known and highly recogizable Window Pictures Paintings. Part I is primarily a build up, revealing the first "window" drawing we know of and how the letter that accompanies it holds many of the traits and values RSW will incorporate into his Window Picture Paintings nearly twenty years later. But that is not all! We will share with you who we believe is their inspiration and how she literally and later figuratively appears in the original paintings perhaps as a tribute to her if only unconsciously so. We will also connect RSW's early commercial work and intimate Redgate paintings as the being precursor to the art form. |
06-03-2022
PAGE UPDATE August Shade When we heard that the Deerfield Academy was going to level the "little brown house" on Albany Street we took another look at this page and introduce
the artist romantic tendencies. |
10-18-2022
PAGE UPDATE December Farm This is an important scene for Woodward only we are not entirely sure why. We suspect it holds an underlying poetic irony, a tragic one. Its story has prompted us to begin an essay exploring its mysteries but for now... enjoy our page update featuring Jeanette Matthews beautiful reviews. |
04-14-2023
A NEW STORY When Drifts Melt Fast In this story, we call Woodward out on being misleading. He claims "it never sold" but the truth is that he never found the right home for what maybe one of the most celebrated and beloved paintings in his entire oeuvre. Read the story of this award-winning painting and see if you agree... |
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03-12-2022
NEW DISCOVERY From My Studio Window Woodward made a num-ber of small errors in his Painting Diary. He didn't start the diary until the early 1940s and so a lot of it was from memory. In regard to this painting, however, he may have made his most egregious mistake. It was the wrong painting entirely! More surprising is who OWNS this painting. |
03-15-2023
CORRECTION The South Window, 1928 It all adds up... the size matches, where it exhibited matches, and the good fortune of discovering a photograph from the 1928 exhibit where this painting is hung next to a known 40" x 50" painting is all we needed to prove this painting is the one on the cover of Country Life Magazine. |
09-17-2022
NEW PAINTING Unnamed: Haying Time in New England We have received a few newly discovered paint-ings through their owners who graciously send us their pictures. This signed but unnamed painting is an early 1920s oil on canvas. It is very unique in that it shows a slop-ing field being hayed and you can just make out the work horses and cart use to do it. |
08-03-2022
EXPERIMENTAL The Chambered Nautilus In our greatest indulg-ence yet, we explore what this painting could possibly be since we have no image of it. Furthermore, we also speculate on the sym-bolism that may be ap-pealing to Woodward that holds great meaning to the artist. It is part of our effort to explore a more intimate look inside his interest. |
07-06-2022
A NEW STORY An Autumn Song Our work in processing all of the news clippings and articles in Woodward's scrapbook is producing opportunities to reveal some things about paintings for which we have no images. This is a great example, and we offer two insights of import to its name and month. |
04-19-2023
NEW CONTEXT God's Quiet Acre More on our effort to get all the article in RSW's scrapbooks to the web-site, here we paid special attention to this chalk drawing. Jeanette Matt-hews of the Springfield Republican is a great art reviewer and one of our favorites. Note what she says about this painting... |
01-23-2022
IN TRIBUTE Miss Mabel Raguse We are making every effort to update many of the Scrapbook pages originated by Dr. Purinton. Here we add some new perspectives on Miss Mabel touting her as one of Woodward's best customers despite her limited resources. Something RSW's greatly appreciated. |
12-22-2022
NEW PICS Unnamed: Guilford Farm; Conway We had the great plea-sure to be invited to take new pictures of this un-named and unsigned painting. There is a ques-tion as to if it is a finished piece. There are missing details RSW would have normally filled in. It was sold after his death by his family. |
07-01-2022
NEW PAINTING Unnamed: Barnyard Blanket You may have already seen this painting of Woodward's Hiram Woodward Place barn and yard just after a snow storm because it appear-ed as the featured art-work for the month of February in this year's Buckland Historical Society's calendar. |
04-04-2023
ADDED INFO Full Bloom If you want to know how special a painting was to Woodward- look at where he exhibited it. In one of the best examples of a painting being over-looked, this is it. This page best illustrates how important our work to fully vet and add all the in-formation we have on where a painting hung. |