RSW's Diary Comments

"Winter of 1941-2. This painting of a giant old maple tree on Town Farm Hill, silhouetted against a yellow sky. I made in the Buckland studio, 1941-42, from an old canvas of the same size made many years ago among my early years of painting, which had darkened and cracked some, then, when complete, destroyed the old canvas. Shown first in my Grand Central Art Galleries Exhibition at Hotel Gotham in March, 1942. Hung (as loan) in Weldon Hotel, Greenfield, when under Mr. Seller, but when hotel was sold to Mr. David M. Richmond, 157 Church Street, New Haven, CT sold it through him to the Weldon Hotel Company in 1945."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"Quiet intense and vivid as sky is... sunset colors, changing from narrow band of orange at horizon, through warm and cold yellows to evening blue at the top. $850"

Above: Courage and Peace, 1934 - Here you have a
higher view of the hill Woodward called "Purinton Hill"
more commonly known as Walnut Hill. This is the hill
seen behind the old maple tree...
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Below: is Spring Thaw, 1941, showing the maples that
lined Charlemont Road once... none seen here are as
old or gnarled as the subject of the painting of this page.
Much of Charlemont Rd. is on Purinton Hill.

Editor's Note:

We would call this painting a "one-off" meaning it is the only of its kind in Woodward's catalog of work. While it is facing north as he often does to painting the most natural light, he rarely makes a canvas that has so much visible drama; the knotted and gnarled ancient maple tree, reflective of the colors dominating the sky and ground, the broken, unkept fence, with the backdrop of Purinton Hill glowing bright under the dramatic sky.

Woodward is typically more subtle than this. His drama is typically focused on the quiet drama of a hilly landscape.

Purinton Hill is an unmistakeably mound shaped hill that dominates to the northern half of Buckland, MA.

Historically known as "Walnut" hill as it is listed on most maps, Woodward called it Purinton Hill, and we do not know why accept that there is a farm named, the Purinton farm, and the road leading out the the meadows at the foot of the hill named Purinton Road.

Sold at Douglas Auctioneers July 7, 2002...