RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in 1936. The present 'Gandy' place over at Dodge Corners in Hawley. Widely exhibited. Once at Springfield Museum in exhibition of noted Americana called Future Forefathers, in 1939. Bought in 1945 by Mrs. Roger R. Smith of 75 Elm Street, Gardner, Massachusetts."

Editor's NOTE:

This painting was purchased from the 1944 Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith Exhibition. A private exhibition of celebrated paintings arranged by F. Earl Williams. Go to the bottom of this page for more...

There is also a chalk drawing titled On a Moutain Farm that is, in all likelihood, another version of this mountain farm scene.

From a Mountain Farm Sketch

We believe the scene is from Dodge Corner Road in Hawley, MA looking east toward Buckland (the neighboring town) and is another perspective of the hilly landscape surrounding Buckland and featuring Puriton Hill that is also seen from Heath looking south in When Spring Comes and Unnamed: Above the Winter Hills . Courage and Peace is from high in Buckland on Charlemont Road, also looking east.

Woodward made a fairly detailed sketch of this scene found in one of his sketchbooks (to the left). In and of itself, is a work of art in its own right. It demonstrates the sentimental importance of this painting.

A close up of the farm

A close up of the hills

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The 1944 Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith Exhibition:

Portrait of a Shadow and A Mountain Farm hanging
in the home of Roger Smith for a private exhibition

To the right: is a photograph of Portrait of a Shadow, along with From a Mountain Farm hanging on the wall for a private exhibition in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith of Gardner, MA, December, 1944. The picture was taken by Woodward friend, educator, and amateur photographer F. Earl Williams. Williams was once the principal of Gardner High School and so we believe he had something to do with arranging this rare exhibition of Woodward's paintings in a private residence. The three missing photographs are New England Impressions*, Winter Farms, and From the North Window*. The paintings photographed are as follows in pairs: Portrait of a Shadow and A Mountain Farm, April Sun and Frost on the Window, A Winter Song* and The Big Chimney*, there is the chalk drawing The Road Home, the oil A Winter Afternoon and other chalk Mountain Meadow together and then Tranquility, and The Little Red Barn* as singles.

And what an exhibition! Worthy of any New York or Boston Gallery, it featured a number of Woodward's most exhibited editorial paintings going back as far as 1935. [noted by an asterisk*] Two of the paintings hanging at the exhibit, A Winter Song and New England Impression previously hung at the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco and the 1939 New York World's Fair respectively.