RSW's Diary Comments

The Little Red Barn, Sepia

"Painted in 1939. The right hand barn of Harrison Keach's twin barns, in Buckland, painted by me many times but never with a more spirited and successful canvas than this, just a small red-faced barn, big doors open, thick maple rising back of it against a vivid June cloud spotted sky, wonderful translucent shadow from other barn across barnyard to the left, maple branches over curved barnyard wall to the right. Exhibited many times all about the country and always receiving good criticisms. Through the interests of F. Earl Williams (my close friend) Principal of Gardner High School, purchased by the graduating class of 1939 and presented to the high school where it hangs on public display."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"Very gay in color, faded red barn, clear rain-washed blue sky, my finest transparent shadow."

Editor's NOTE:

We recently came across a note Woodward made about a painting not needing insurance coverage for the canvas because it would be fully covered by the American Federation of Art (AFA) for their traveling exhibition program. So when Woodward writes, "Exhibited many times all about the country..." he is referring to the AFA and Woodward here indicates this painting traveled more than once making this perhaps the MOST traveled painting in his oeuvre! The AFA sponsored hundreds of traveling exhibitions from 1931 to 1952 to thousands of locations.

⮟ This painting was purchased from the 1944 Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith Exhibition. A private exhibition of remarkable painting arranged by F. Earl Williams. Go to the bottom of this page for more...

February 10, 1935, New York Herald Tribune
Review by Royal Cortissoz

Purchased by the graduating class of Gardner High School in 1939 it was later loaned to the private exhibition held at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith of Gardner, MA. All of this, the purchase and exhibition, was facilitated by Woodward friend and educator F. Earl Williams.

This painting has been removed from the Gardner (MA) High School for security reasons and is now hung in a private room in the town's public library where it can be seen by visitors.

North Adams Transcript, March 30, 1935

"... is a painting which breathes a friendliness, a kindness that comes only from one who must be a good neighbor. Neighborliness seems to be the dominating spirit in the oil paintings of Mr. Woodward."

Binghampton Sun, January 10, 1935
by Joyce Allen "Give Sidelights to the Exhibit"

Binghampton Sun, January 10, 1935
by Joyce Allen [to the right]

  "From a purely critical standpoint the work of this artist is remarkable for its atmospheric quality, its truth to nature, its interesting sky treatment, and its unobtrusive detail.
  The thing that impressed the writer most was those skies. They seem fairly to move. The pictures make one feel they are "alive," the clouds seeming to be drifting along soon to be lost to view. The coloring is superb, which only enhances this "aliveness." Many exhibits have been shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, but none better than this.

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The 1944 Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith Exhibition:

The Little Red Barn
hanging in the home of Roger
Smith for a private exhibition

To the right: is a photograph of The Little Red Barn* hanging on the wall for a private exhibition in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith of Gardner, MA, December, 1944. The picture was taken by Woodward friend, educator, and amateur photographer F. Earl Williams. Williams was once the principal of Gardner High School and so we believe he had something to do with arranging this rare exhibition of Woodward's paintings in a private residence. This painting however, was NOT for sale. It had already been purchased by the Gardner High School, class of 1939, as a gift to the school.

The three missing photographs are New England Impressions*, Winter Farms, and From the North Window*. The paintings photographed are as follows in pairs: April Sun and Frost on the Window, Portrait of a Shadow and From a Mountain Farm*, A Winter Song* and The Big Chimney*, then there is the chalk drawing The Road Home , the oil A Winter Afternoon and other chalk Mountain Meadow together and then Tranquility as another solo image.

And what an exhibition! Worthy of any New York or Boston Gallery, it featured a number of Woodward's most exhibited editorial paintings going back as far as 1935 [noted by an asterisk*] Two of the paintings hanging at the exhibit, A Winter Song and New England Impression previously hung at the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco and the 1939 New York World's Fair respectively.