RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted around 1930. A painting of the interior of a sugar house, when they are boiling sap. Painted from inside the Gray Brothers" Sugar House in Ashfield, where Fabian carried me inside to work, because too cold and windy to work outside the day I went over there to paint. Made around 1930. So far as I know the only painting ever made of this subject matter, boiling inside."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"This is the interior of the Gray Sugar House on Baptist corner, Ashfield, MA. The large holding tub is now gone."

The image seen above is from an early 1980s picture and the best we have. It is very yellow in tone, possibly from florescent light, but we believe is most likely resembles the pastel seen below because Woodward worked to have his oils and chalks to be very similar.

In the Sugar House; Boiling

We once reported that this sugar house is still in use, however, recent contact with a family member (2024) we learn that the building was retired around the time Woodward made this painting and today's sugar house was constructed. The original painting of the sugar house's exterior ( The Sugar House ) was made a couple of years earlier, so we are wondering if Woodward, when he was brought inside to warm up while painting the exterior, made the chalk drawing ( In the Sugar House Boiling ), then in 1930. When the Gray brothers shuttered the old sugar house, he painted the oil painting above from the pastel.

This painting was painted during a time when Woodward was drawing and painting a number of sugar houses (between 1928 and 1932). However, the only known sugar house interiors are this painting and a chalk drawing to the right.

Woodward was also painting a number of paintings of sap being collected. We suggest you check out When Drifts Melt Fast or At Sugaring Time for more.