RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in 1933. The back of Keach's twin gray barns with pasture foreground, containing late snow drifts. A very earthy, strongly painted canvas, bought the year it was painted by Mr. and Mrs. Aaron C. Bagg, 72 Fairfield Avenue, Holyoke, Mass., who own two other 'Woodwards'."

A closer look at the barns in: The Twin Barns

New York Herald Tribune, Dec. 18, 1932

"A barnyard subject which is quite the most arresting thing on the walls of the Macbeth Gallery. The composition is as sound as it is personal, unforced, and all through the picture I rest contentedly on the artist's draftsmanship, one of his leading resources."

New York American, Dec. 31, 1932 by Malcolm Vaughan

"He lets us see the days of the passing of this tragic phase of the farmer's year in the superb Last of Winter, with its warming sunlight enveloping two barns, a cart-road, and some already greening fields."

New York Post, Dec. 22, 1932 by Margaret Breuning

"....Last of Winter with its sense of loneliness and remoteness emphasized by the fences and stone walls enclosing the little lane where melting snow marks the reluctant loosening of winter's grasp are poetical statements of the real quality of New England countryside and living. The artist , however, places esthetic reliance on solid qualities of design which carry his conception convincingly. His structure and composition have no formula but serve him in good stead in each scene........"

Comments in a notebook by RSW: "Sold August 9 , 1933 to Mr. and Mrs Bagg for $400.00"

See also The Twin Barns and From A May Pasture for a similar painting of the Keach barns.