RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in 1931. A larger painting of the Old Oyster House in Boston on Union Street, made from the smaller 27 x 30 canvas which in its turn was made from the chalk drawing made on the spot in 1931, the week I had Florence Haeberle's house in West Newton. The smaller painting 'Oyster House' was sold by the Grand Central Art Galleries from their Founders' Show in...... while the original chalk was bought by Dean and Mrs. Howard Robbins of Heath, Mass (summer address).

Comments on the back of sepia prints:

"Old building, ochre, red and blue, most interesting and 'old world' in effect, but authentic Boston... Very rich yet subtle in coloring with deep blues, touches of bright red enlivening the old brick walls of tawny yellows and flesh-color of the main buildings. Background walls dull neutral rose, white and grayish-green awnings, colorful foreground detail.

Excerpt from Oyster House comments:

"Made a chalk drawing from the street of this subject... and from this made two paintings, this 27 x 30 and a larger 36 x 42. "

The Ole Union Oyster House in 2013

There has always been a question of how many paintings Woodward painted from his original chalk drawing. The reason is because a third name, Boston Romance appears in a 1937 catalog of the Grand Central Galleries Founder's Day Show. It is listed as being a 27 x 30 size painting just as The Oyster House and twice, in two different painting diary comments, RSW states that The Oyster House was sent to the Founder's Day Show and sold to "a private owner." However, RSW remains consistent that he only painted TWO paintings from the original chalk, first a 27 x 30, then a 36 x 42 (In Old Boston). The sepia for the 27 x 30 painting is named Oyster House and exhibited twice in 1931 under that name. In 1933, at the annual Boston Art Club Exhibition a 27 x 30 is listed as Boston Romance; The Oyster House and finally sold under the name Boston Romance in 1937.

A postcard of the Oyster House from RSW's time

We do not have any image of the original chalk drawing, nor do we know of its whereabouts, so we could not tell you how exactly it matches this painting. In making this painting, we believe he embellished on the original chalk and 27 x 30 to include, a baker looking out a window above, a dog on the sidewalk, and he added a mother and daughter just after the second car. He specifically states on the back of the Oyster House sepia he added them. However, it is worth noting that the size difference required RSW add more scenery and we wonder, because of the different aspect ratio of his chalks (22 x 29) what more of the street is shown.

It is not a fair side by side comparison of In Old Boston (left) and Boston Romance (right) because In Old Boston
is a much larger painting. As you can see, RSW added more scenery around three quarters of the perimeter. He needed to do this as to not lose correct perspective of the Oyster House itself which nearly lines up to the original painting. Particularly in the far right and lower portion of the painting where he added the mother and daughter.

Differences in man entering shop

What Woodward does not point out in his notes is he also changed the position of the man in the doorway, as well as, what he is holding. For one thing, he is farther in the doorway and in Boston Romance he is carrying a stack of what appears to be newspapers, possible delivering them. He looks like a delivery man, right? He is wearing a newsie! The other looks as if he has on an apron, possibly a clerk or the shop owner.

We tried to identify the kind of car shown in front of the shop and all we can tell you is it is not a GMC! GMC cars most often had the spare tire on the other side. It appears to be a Ford, possibly Model A Tudor Sedan (1927 -1931), but we have been unable to find a close enough match to be certain.

Woodward never sold this painting. It hung in his home for the remander of his life. It is not clear to us if he this was intentional or not. In his comments for Oyster House when referring to the "larger" painting he said "I have for sale..." It only exhibitited once! For a painting of this caliber and significance, it would not surprise us if he kept it because it meant something to him. In 2006, Woodward's estate permitted the Richardson Fine Art Gallery to exhibit the painting for the annual Boston International Fine Art Show benefiting the Artist For Hunamity, Boston, organization. An offer was made for the painting by an area art curator and the painting was sold to said curator for $36,000. CLICK HERE FOR MORE (the page will open in a new tab)