RSW's Diary Comments

Greenfield Gazette Recorder
Saturday, November 30, 1928

• Woodward did not keep records of the pastels he called "chalk drawings."

Greenfield Gazette Recorder, Saturday, November 30, 1928 ⮞

"One of his crayon drawings 'Dramatic Vermont' is a fine example. The distant wooded mountains, intimates of the clouds, are modeled with a glorious vigor of line and yet express 'the law of beauty under which the whole universe lies.' An inviting road leads to the warm, sunlit valley in the foreground, but the eye returns to the grandeur and nobility of the upward sweeping lines of the mountains..."

Editor's Note:

There are four articles linked to the exhibition held in the home of Miss Anna Koch of Greenfield, MA. Two clippings announced the event with dates and times, the third is a letter to the editor of the Greenfield Gazette Recorder just following the show, and the last is its summation, mostly listing what paintings were bought and who bought them a week after.

This painting, Dramatic Vermont was only recently discovered. Dr. Mark missed this name when he listed the five other named paintings as its own, separate, exhibit the following year in 1929. Enlarging the article to the right, you will see it is marked "11/30 1928," on the upper right hand side..

We have a policy of not creating an art work page unless we have something concrete to establish its existence. This pastel clearly exists because the writer reviewed.

What strikes us most about the Gazette Recorder article is that it is dated a week before the exhibit, and yet, the reporter has seen the work prior. This leads us to ask if the exhibit was set up a week before it opened rather than the week of... or did the reporter get special access to the paintings at the artist's studio? The three other articles below ⮟

North Adams Transcript
Monday, Nov. 26, 1928

Greenfield Recorder Gazette
Sunday, Dec. 7, 1928

North Adams Transcript
Monday, Dec. 10, 1928

The Drama of Vermont, 1935

⮜ To the left is a pastel named The Drama of Vermont (1935). We do not know the subject of this pastel other than it is Vermont and that there is "an inviting road" leading to a sunny valley. Woodward frequented Vermont a lot. He was a member of the Southern Vermont Artist Association from its inception in 1927. The SVAA's annual exhibit was held on the unofficial end of summer Labor Day weekend. His two best customers came from the SVAA shows, Adaline Havemeyer Frelinghuysen, and Bartlett Arkell. The artist typically made Vermont specific scenes because they were very popular with the summering New York City crowds in Manchester, VT. From the records we have, he often painted or drew Mt. Peru from Stratton mountain and vice versa. There is a valley between them but there is also, Mt. Aeolis and Mt. Dorest near each other. Any of these combinations could be the subject..

It is perhaps equally important that we point out that at this time in Woodward's career, he is making 4 pastels to every oil. The reason is, he is suffering neuropathy in his hands that does not give him the dexterity he needs to handle a brush. This phase in his career leads up to his famous 1929 Pynchon Gallery exhibit featuring his pastels along side oils canvases of the same subject. Unfortunately we do not have the programs for the SVAA prior to 1934 because they were lost in the artist's 1934 Hiram Woodward fire.

A picture of the front of Koch's Grocery Store,
c. 1925 from the Scrapbook page Abbie Putnam Labelle
and her recollection of RSW and her mother, Lena
Putnam, who worked for Woodward for many years.

⮜  The N.A.D. is the National Academy of Design

We do not know who Miss Anna Koch was exactly. We believe she was related to the family that own a grocery store, Koch's Food Store, in Greenfield, and another location in Turner Falls, MA. There could be more. We are looking into it. The exhibition held in her home in 1928 is not the only reference we have of Woodward's relationship with her. She is mentioned in his 1932 personal diary...

RSW's 1932 personal diary, March 12th

"Very cold with wind, but clear. Packed two pictures for N.A.D. taking all morning. "Out of N.E. Soil" and
"Grandmother's Lamp". Greenfield in afternoon with Mother and Julia. Mother to Moore's while Fabian
and I bought Julia a dress! Saw Mrs. Koch and Mrs. Tullis on business. Letters all evening."


His mother is Mary Strong. Her and Woodward's father Orion Leroy (O.L.) moved back to Massachusetts in the late 1920s and where living with their son by 1932. His father having gone blind for some unknown reason. Julia is one of his many cousins. The two were very close. She even worked from him for a period of time.