Featured Artwork: Early Moonlight

RSW's Diary Comments

A 2020 picture of the painting above

There is not a diary entry for this painting. This is another painting by the same name made much later for his friends Mr. Henry and Helen Patch to give as a wedding gift to their son in 1947. You can read her recollections of Woodward by clicking on her name.

Editor's Note:

One of the greatest challenges of these early dusk-lit paintings is getting a good picture of them. Unlike his daylight paintings, Woodward treated these evening canvases with a varnish that darkened over years. A mistake made by the budding painter early in his career. The paintings are hard to see without powerful lights and the varnish naturally reflects the light making it near impossible to get a good picture of them without some sort of glare or in editing leave them so muted it is robbed of all its vibrancy- see image to the right ⮞

But we have found a solution and took advantage of the opportunity to get the picture above while it hung at the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, MA, for our 2025 exhibition, Courage and Peace and what a difference!

Springfield Union, March 1, 1921,
by Ernest Newton Bagg

⮜ Purchased by George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, MA., March 1921. It came up for auction in 1985 at Skinner Inc. Auction but was not sold. The low estimate given at the time was $3,500. The high estimate was $5,500. The painting was eventually sold by the museum in a private sale shortly thereafter surely not fetching even a low estimate.

⮝ The painting came up again for sale by auction in December 2020 through the online site, Aspire Auctions, and was sold again. We believe the price reflected the condition of the painting itself. It would need some work. Its condition was described as follows, "Craquelure, minor touches of in painting, loose on stretcher, light stretcher bar marks. Prior tear with repair lower left. Prior repairs with losses to frame," suggesting it may need to be re-stretched and secured more soundly to the stretcher."

⮝ As you can see, the painting has been restored and it is simply beautiful. It was a huge hit, and much admired at the Courage and Peace exhibit in Deerfield. Larch and Brian would bring visitors over to the painting in its lavish frame and take a special handheld light and place it in such a way that garnered many Ooooos and Awwwwwws.

⮟ Below are pictures taken of the back of the canvas that has remnants of an unrelated sketch that appears to be an apple tree in bloom. We found similar sketches on the verso of other early canvases. We believe this is most likely a money saving feature by the artist before Mrs. Ada Moore would set up a trust to cover the artist cost of healthcare. Also, the artist is just beginning to prepare for his scheduled 1923 exhibit at the Macbeth Galleries in New York City. He will need supplies to make 50 canvases from which Macbeth will choose 25 of them. He cannot waste a dime. There was also during the mini depression of 18 months through 1921 and '22...

We rotated the sketch to get a better view.
It appears to be an apple tree, something RSW was
interested in at this time. He was making paintings in
'Apple Valley,' (Ashfield, MA) one of which ended up
also in the Springfield Museum collection. See the
canvas, Through The Hills in May and also, Across
the Apple Valley which also has a sketch on its back.