RSW's Diary Comments

The Proud Rooster, 1927

Woodward did not keep records of his pastel paintings he called chalk drawings.

Editor's Note:

As we precede with the update audit of the entire artwork section of the website. We can't help picking up certain coincidences. For instance, note the weather vane of the barn in the rear of the "hungry little barn." Does that not look like the rooster from The Proud Rooster to the right? Look at the direction of the barn cut off to the right of the drawing. It is going in the same direction as the barn behind the hungry barn. Now look at the road or driveway to the left of the drawing above and you can imagine Woodward sat right about there to make The Proud Rooster, perhaps on the same day!

Furthermore, both chalks appear in 1927 at the same Pittsfield (MA) Art League exhibition. They both have decorative contour borders, although they differ and they both also happen to end up in California... The Proud Rooster going to Mrs. Josephine Everett and exhibiting in the Los Angeles Museum on loan from Mrs. Everett in 1928.

Above is the contour border, name, and sig-
nature for The Hungry Little Barn. Only a few of
RSW's pastels have these decorative borders. All in
the mid-to-early 1920s. Borders like this are tradition-
ally called "meander" but we are unclear if this applies
to ALL uses. Proud Rooster also has a border design.

There is simply too many coincidences with this chalk drawing and that of The Proud Rooster. Still, this does not mean we are right. This is a situation of a "preponderance of the evidence" which is mostly circumstantial.

It is terrible that this is the best image we have of this chalk drawing. Chalk drawings are the most difficult to photograph because they are framed under glass. There is no circumstance where we would suggest someone remove the glass by anyone other than a professional. The reflections are very distracting and takes away the full enjoyment of the scene.

Close up of the barn, we can now do because
the owner sent us a new image and it is amazing!
Thank you so much ❤❤❤

Woodward is being humorous in the naming of this painting. Obviously he is taking the two small windows flanking the hay loft barn door as the eyes and nose of a face. The large opening of the lower barn, with its rounded edges have the appearance of an almost anxious mouth about to take a bit of something.

From a distance, the outline of the object inside the barn looks like it could be an old truck. Take a closer look and you can clearly see that the wheels are too lager to be for a truck. It is apparently a buggy or a cart. It is hard to tell beyond that.