This exhibit is very special in its own right. It has the distinction of being the only known Woodward exhibition featuring the artist's pastel paintings. For a long time, we believed that only pastels hung at the exhibit, but found an article indicating this was not true. The pastels' counterpart oil were in another room! We have always known there was one oil from the Springfield Republican article by Jeanette Matthew to the left. She mentions the canvas Near the Sky placed next to its sibling pastel but never says the name of the pastel. Ugh! The second article (lower right) states at the very end of its copy...

The point made by the reporter, which we underlined, is very important to the primary point of this exhibition. The artist took great pride in his pastels. The art form is near and dear to his heart. It is considered drawing, because anything made on paper is called drawing, even watercolors. But Woodward takes it to another level creating pastels so close to their oil siblings it is hard to tell the difference sometimes. We did something similar at the 2025 Memorial Hall Museum show when we put an oil with its twin pastel provoking many conversations. We offer you the paintings below... We will let you figure out which is what ⮟

Also, regarding the location... one of the articles above give the address, 249 Bridge Street, Springfield, MA. For context to modern times, that would put it across from the current New England Public Radio building on Main Street. Across from the north side of the building is a park, Stieger Park. It is the former location of the region's popular Stieger's Department Store. The store took up the entire block and so we have to believe that the "Pynchon Gallery" was either run by the store itself or store front leased from the store. In either case, it is no longer there ⮟

One last thing, and it is critical to what may be the real reason for the exhibition. There was a time between 1927 and 1928 where Woodward produced more than twice the number of pastels (he called them chalk drawings) than oil paintings. We learn from an interview he did with Matthews in May of 1928 that he was having neuritis issues effecting his handling of a brush. This issue intensified his development of the pastels as an alternative source of income. The good fortune of this is that from here on out his pastels would appear in many of his major oil exhibits. Though, typically never exceeding a third of the total paintings.

It is disappointing that there was not another exhibit to feature the pastels. The next closest event would be the 1931 Tryon Museum exhibit at Smith College. For that exhibit, twenty-three oils hung with twenty-one pastels. Then in 1932, the year the Deerfield Academy held a special event honoring the opening of a new dormitory on campus, Woodward's artwork was chosen to be hung in the new dorm. Twenty oils and ten pastels hung for the event which was carried over after the graduation by the school's headmaster for the school's alumni weekend and June seminars.

To read the whole interview by Ms. Matthews click this link for our PDF version