RSW's Diary Comments

Woodland Edge, 1931

Editor's Note:

There is no record of this oil painting in the RSW diaries. There is, however, a mention of its chalk or sketch in his personal diary (Woodward was experimenting with modern "sketch-styles" with pastel and charcoal between 1928 and 1933).

This leads us to making an addendum to the information given on this page for the past 20 years. It was initially believed that because the label (below) has what appears to be a "1921" penciled on it that this is somehow the year. But Woodward is not invited to join the Grand Central Art Gallery (GCAG) until 1931, and we have a letter by Woodward discussing his pleasure to be associated with the GCAG. We have no record of any previous relationship.

Also, the style of this painting is more fitting to the style he adopted after his 1922 Redgate studio fire. It is akin to paintinings like Woodland Edge (1931) to the right or October Flame (1932) when he was still applying a mix of blended and moderate impasto brush methods to his autumn paintings.

The provenance on this oil relates that the purchaser was informed on buying the painting that the artist had also made a previous sketch of the scene, or possibly a chalk drawing. There was a record in the RSW's personal diaries of there being a chalk drawing with this title but no further information.

The painting came up at a private sale in June 2013 in Connecticut.

The Grand Central Art Gallery label for the painting

To the left, is an image of the tag from the original sellers Grand Central Galleries. It was listed for $600. It reflects a bit of a "markup" from Woodward's normal price for a 25" x 30" painting suggesting to us this may have been a "Founder's Day" painting. The Founder's Day exhibit for the GCAG was the gallery's annual fundraising events. The gallery would purchase their favorite paintings from their stable of artist at not quite a wholesale price and re-sell them keeping the proceeds. It was part of being a member of the association.

It is no surprise to us this early 1930s painting does not have a diary comment. Many of his GCAG "Founder's Day" paintings are not in his painting diary.