RSW's Diary Comments

• There is no entry for this painting in the painting diary.

Editor's Note:

We have no idea where the "In" of 'In Early March' came from. Below you will see a simple label naming the painting, "Early March." A search in our exhibition records did not yield any results. More information is needed.

A label on the rear stretcher

To the right is a small label from the back of the painting's stretcher. It indicates to us that this painting did exhibit somewhere. However, the name does not appear in any of our current records and that name does NOT match the name we have for this page. It simply reads, Early March. We search both names and found nothing.

Adding to the mystery of this painting's story is an unusual note by the artist to potential buyers (seen below) attached to the verso of the canvas. It is one of the more odd circumstances in Woodward's catalog or work. He explains that the painting has been cleaned and a couple of vanish stains have been removed! Moreover, the year is listed as 1933, however, it looks to be a bit older than that. Our guess would be mid-to-late 1920s- learning mostly to the former than the latter, like Birches on the Hill below...or any of these other painting of similar style:

Birches on the Hill, mid-1920s

Late Autumn, 1928-'29

Autumn Brilliance, 1925, or

May Woods, 1928-'29

This may be some sort of special circumstance, like Woodward giving the painting to be sold as part of a fund raiser for the local PTA, the local garden club, women's auxiliary, or perhaps for his friend F. Earl Williams, the Principal of Gardner (MA) high school... There is NO way this would be okay for a gallery in Boston or New York.

The fact that it had to be cleaned and fixed, suggest it sat in Woodward's storage for a period of time. Its age had to be obvious enough to prompt Woodward to write the note which is extraordinary. And this in no way diminishes how nice we see the painting to be. It is a lovely painting with wonderful light and color.

SEE the IMAGE below for the note and its transcription.

FOR- The person interested in this painting; on May 1^st I cleaned this painting, removed one or two small varnish stains, and find it in unusually fine condition, as to permancy of color, condition of paint, etc., etc. 1936 Robert Strong Woodward