Quick Reference
Painted 1918
Four Mile Square Road
East Charlemont,
Charlemont/Colrain line, MA
Oil on Canvas
Landscape
Barns, Houses
25 X 30
National Academy Exhibition
J. H. Miller Co
NA
Featured Artwork: The Golden Barn
RSW's Diary Comments
"Painted 1918. One of my earliest paintings after I'd been painting but a year or two. Gardner Symons, having just seen my work urged me to send to the National Academy Exhibition. I thought this far beyond my scope as yet, but took a dare, and sent this canvas and it passed the jury and was hung! (The N.A. D. Exhibition of 1918.) I felt like a very big man! An old barn against the woods, weather beaten and golden with age, a farm at the foot of Catamount Hill Road (over by N. River Bridge Road) owned at the time by Mrs. Tenant. After it came back to me from the N.A.D. Exhibition, it was bought, with a lot of 6 or 8 other of my canvases (for $1000 for the lot) by the J. H. Miller Co, 31 Harrison Ave., Springfield, Mass. I do not know who finally bought it. The sugaring picture, acquired by F. Earl Williams from J.H. Miller Co., was of this same 'lot' mentioned above."
Additional Notes
The inventory tag from the Academy exhibit.
In February of 2009, we received the following E-Mail:
Hi. My auction house has a Robert Strong Woodward painting entitled "The Golden Barn" up for auction next Thursday. There have been some questions raised regarding the signature because it is so different from some of his other works so I started doing a little research and came upon your site. The diary entry for this painting makes total sense. There was an inventory tag from the Academy exhibit on the back of the painting that has since fallen off but is still with the painting. There is also a label from the J.H. Miller company on the back of the painting. I have attached pictures for you. Any additional information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. If you would like additional photos, please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
RSW's signature without the iconic red S
The artwork's title from the back of the frame.
The auction house (Olde Tyme Stuffe) most likely questioned the signature because it was without RSW's iconic red "S," however,
this painting was one of his earliest and he had not yet established his trademark signature.