RSW's Diary Comments

None.

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

A close up of RSW's signature from lower left corner.

"Rich summer greens, spotted with sunlight against opal blue mountain-side. Gray-violet roadway. Tree trunks dull rose and violet. Left foreground colorful weeds and grasses."

Editor's Note:

Given the year, this might just be one of the artist last paintings. Woodward would retire in 1952 due to what he simply called neuropathy. He simply no longer had the hand control and steadiness he once did. The irony here is that it does not show in this award winning painting. Actually, there are a number of late career paintings that are some of his most skilfully made and most refined pieces. There is no evidence of diminished capacity, in fact, it is quite the opposite. The works all appear to transcend his condition, mirroring his life in general.

Recorder Gazette

"DVAA Members Vote Best Oil Prize to Woodward. Members vote on the opening night, the best oil painting, Robert Strong Woodward's Maple Guardians ..."

Mrs. Ada Small Moore
Woodward sponsor & patron-saint

Ada S. Moore is the original owner of this painting. There was a time we wondered if Woodward charged Mrs. Moore for the paintings she would own because of her sponsorship of the artist. We speculated that she would insist on paying for them and Woodward reluctantly would accept. We have since confirmed the Mrs. Moore did purchase at least some her paintings, especially if she did so through the Macbeth Gallery, perhaps to circumvent Woodward's argument. We also know that there were times were Woodward says he simply "sent" Mrs. Moore such-n-such painting.

Mrs. Moore is one of the wealthiest women in the country, if not the world, and she had sponsored Woodward healthcare since the mid-1920s paying for his nurse, attendant/ handymen who aided him, as well as buying his cars, such as the 1936 Packard Phaeton Touring car. She would pass in 1955, two years before Woodward and she would leave a trust to continue her sponsorship after her death. Woodward's debt to her is immeasurable.