Featured Artwork: Down an August Road

RSW's Diary Comments

Early Autumn laid over In Early Autumn

"Painted in 1933. Back road between Sadawga Pond, Jacksonville and N. Heath Roads. I consider it my finest summer landscape. Sold from the studio (together with New England in November) to Dr. Edward P. Bagg, of 207 Elms Street, Holyoke, Mass. On Dec. 11, 1946, to be given to one of his married sons at Christmas whose address is... "

ADDENDUM:

For many years we incorrectly identified this painting as the painting "cut-down" and later renamed Early Autumn because RSW cited it specifically in its diary comments. However, upon a recent review we realize he was referencing another painting, now believed to be In Early Autumn. Part of the confusion was that under his comments for In Early Autumn, not only did he say as little as possible but he also got the year totally wrong. Below are both diary comments for In Early Autumn and Early Autumn.

Dairy Comments for In Early Autumn

"Painted in 1945. Exhibited at Vose Galleries in 1945."

Dairy Comments for Early Autumn

"Painted in 1940 in the studio from the canvas Down an August Road. Composition similar with buildings left out and coloring changed from summer to that of early fall. Made first for Gussie Borun (who owns the house at Halifax) of Beverly Hills, California, (through Harold Grieve) and sent out to California for Mrs. Borun to see, but she didn't care for it so it came back to me".

"Cut-down" of In Early Autumn
renamed Early Autumn

For the longest time it was believed that this painting was "cut-down" and later named Early Autumn. However, a more serious look into all of the "Hill Road" paintings using our Exhibitions List as the main reference clears the matter up quite simply. This is the first known "Hill Road" painting. It was widely exhibited and as RSW states in his diary comments was sold from the studio to Edward Bagg.

We do not know the whereabouts of this painting today but we are now certain it is not the "cut-down" version. The paintings simply do not match...

(1) Though we do not have a color image, this painting is an "August" later summer scene and not an early autumn.
(2) A mailbox is clearly visible along the road and is missing in both In Early Autumn and Early Autumn (right).
(3) The vantage point is pretty much the same, however, this painting was highly regarded. Whereas In Early Autumn was criticized for having competing focal points as demonstrated below.
(4)The house would have still appeared in the cut-down version, not a field, if this was the cut painting .

A side-by-side comparison of this painting and In Early Autumn now believed
to be the painting cut-down and renamed Early Autumn (shown over its original)

What we DIDN'T realized until we matched up and laid Early Autumn over In Early Autumn that it appears that a portion of the sky was also cropped. This could be to fit a standard frame size of the time but was are just speculating in that regard.