RSW's Diary Comments

• Woodward did not keep records of the pastels he called "chalk drawings."

Vermont Barns, Oil, 1934
This is the Norton Farm's "Saddleback Barn." You can
see clearly the iconic Roche moutonnée glacial form of
Camel's Hump Mountain opposite of the image above.

Editor's Note:

After considerable deliberation and discussion, we have determined that this pastel was made independent of Woodward's visit to Mrs. Dresser in 1928 that produced five known paintings. Because it is a late summer painting, made most likely on the second or third week of September, and it exhibited in the Spring of 1928 at Woodward's large J.H. Miller Galleries one-man show in Springfield, MA, that it had to have been the year before.

We know it is Vermont because one can clearly identify the distinct peak of Camels Hump mountain in the distance. Only, the flat-face of the peak is facing the opposite direction than what is seen in the five "Norton Farm" paintings in Riverton, VT. It actually looks like this is from the opposite side which would put Woodward near Shelburne, VT, and Lake Champlain. If this is accurate it is the farthest north in Western Vermont than any other known painting. The Norton Farm paintings are actually the outlier paintings. Most all of the artist's paintings made in Vermont were in neighboring towns of the Massachusetts border and along the US Route 7 corridor from Manchester to Pawlett, VT, painting Mt. Equinox, Aeolus, Stratton and Stowe mountains.

Also, another very notable difference between this pastel and the Vermont Barns scene is the distance of the mountain ranges are from the hay barn. The landscape is more level and clear of trees. This matches what you see of the land surrounding Shelburne which is fairly flat.

Springfield Republican, Apr. 25, 1928
Click on the HEADLINE to see the whole article

This pastel was exhibited at the 1928 J. H. Miller Co. Galleries Exhibition in Springfield, MA, ⮞⮞ along with 37 other paintings and pastels. It is the first large one-man show to feature the pastels with the oil canvases. It will lead to the 1929 Pynchon Gallery exhibit featuring primarily the pastels in the main room. We would learn two things about this new emphasis on the pastels. One, Woodward was experiencing neuropathy in his hands making it difficult to handle his brushes the way he needed. During this period, of all the paintings made between 1927 and 1929, two-thirds were pastels. The second is that oil paintings matching the pastel scenes at the Pynchon event were exhibited in another room and not named by the newspapers.

A close up the horses pulling the hay cart. They do
not appear to be especially large, however, a typical pull
horse is anywhere from 14 to 16 hands which is 5 feet
to almost 5 and a half feet from ground to shoulder.

This is also an interesting time period for Woodward. He is just getting his career back on track after his disastrous Redgate fire in 1922. He is experimenting quite a bit with new styles, techniques, subjects. This effort would lead him to his biggest break since winning the Hallgarten First Prize in 1919. He wins one of only four gold medals awarded at the 1930 Boston Tercentennial Celebration

⮜ It is not too hard to miss where Woodward offers you some perspective as to the size of this hay barn (*more like a shed wouldn't you say?). In the shadows to the right of the hay cart are two horses dwarfed by the hay pile under the shed. Read the caption for more.

The Patched Roof, c. 1927

What is really fascinating about this hay barn is the natural forms of the post holding up the rickety roof. Those are not milled lumber post, nor do we see any mortise and tenon joints. The lumber appears to be strung together by rope. Finally, there is something about the landscape and the feel of the hay barn that links it to the pastel to the right, The Patched Roof ⮞

This is purely speculation, however, they were also both made the same year, both have cows grazing and exhibited at J.H. Miller in 1928. Even the coloring is similar, as well as the age of both structures. If not the same farm, it is close by...