RSW's Diary Comments

A Hill Road Sepia Print

"Painted summer of 1946. Painted up at North Heath at the head of the N. Heath-Adamsville Road. Three simple elements, dirt road, tree group, wooded mountains in powerful simplicity - all pinned together by a red-roofed sugar house all under a 'cloud and blue' August sky. I think a fine canvas. The one 'free' summer painting I made in the Packard with Mark, his summer of 1946 when I hoped to paint a dozen. Made in 3 afternoons at the place, while Mark studied or read. Sold Sept 1st, 1947, from Manchester, Vt. Exhibition to Mrs. P.H.B. Frelinghuysen of Morristown, N. J. and given to her young grandson to be taken out to his new home in Arizona."

Adaline Havemeyer Frelinghuysen
from her 1905 Bryn Mawr College year-
book. Her sister, Electra, is known for
founding the Shelburne Museum, VT.

Adaline Havemeyer Frelinghuysen is far and away Woodward's best customer. A resident of Morristown, NJ, she and her husband Peter Hood Ballentine Frelinghuysen Sr. (a former law school classmate of not-yet-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and served as an usher at his wedding to Eleanor) summered in Manchester, VT. The earliest records we have of their relationship began with the start of the Southern Vermont Artist Association in 1927.

Over the years, we have learned that she and her husband bought what is now more than 30 paintings (including chalks) and we continue to discover more each year. Primarily because there were a number of private sales that were not recorded in Woodward's records, as well as, Adaline's appreciation for pastels and chalks which Woodward did not keep records. We believe her love of pastels comes from her mother (Louisine W. E. Havemeyer) and her close friendship with an artist famous for her pastels, Mary Cassatt. Cassatt was also friends with Edgar Degas one of the most famous pastel artists of all time whom we believe had a significant influence on Woodward.

If you are wondering, Adaline is the daughter of controversial sugar magnate and renowned art collector, Henry Osborne Havemeyer of the famed Havemeyer Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Her mother, a leader of the suffrage movement.

Addendum: 20, July 2019

We were recently contacted by a woman familiar with the area and told we had the location of where RSW painted this painting ALL wrong... and she was right. We misinterpreted RSW's diary comments. We took it to be just across the Colrain line on Adamsville Road. Using her description, we jumped in the car and took Doc Purinton out to confirm the spot (West Branch Road). Below are the pictures from our trip.

A picture from near the spot RSW painted this painting along side the painting itself.
The sugar house is blocked by trees today.

The distinct sugar house roof

The sugar house from a field

The barn door of the sugar house

The sugar house from below

The inside of the sugar house, equipment

This painting was purchased by Adaline Havemeyer Frelinghuysen to send to her grandson in Arizona. Frelinghuysen was Woodward's most prolific customer. She bought at least 17 paintings throughout his career.

We here at the website wish to extend our special thanks to Donna for straightening us out. It is fans of Woodward like her that make all of this work satisfying. While we do all we can to be accurate, sometimes we miss... please do not hesitate to write us, like Donna, should you have any information that would help us.
CONTACT US HERE

The original Herbert Ashworth photograph

Our friend did it again... while visiting the studio and carriage house gallery she pulls out a print made of the painting from our own files.we were unaware we had! We were using a scan of the original cabinet-box style mounted photograph by RSW photographer Herbert Ashworth. As wonderful as it is... it is too textured for a decent image suitable for the website. The texture softens it too much. We have now replaced the image above with the newly found print but still feel the Ashworth photograph worthy of a place on this page.