RSW's Diary Comments

Through October Hills, 1943, the 2nd painting

"Painted about 1944-5. Several paintings similar to this I made in the studio the winter of 1944 '5. The description under Through October Hills (which see) applies to this picture too, although the composition is somewhat different with the stone wall in Through October Hills, for instance, much more prominent. Sold Dec. '53 to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Abbott of Braintree, Mass."

Editor's Note:

Just one month ago (03-29-2024) we made all kinds of changes to three of the paintings related to the painting of this page. We proved through sepia prints and painting diary evidence that the painting long thought to be Through October Hills was really, New England in October. That conclusion was premature because we completely forgot about a chalk drawing named Mountain Meadow which was photographed hanging in the home of Mr. & Mrs. Roger Smith in Gardner (MA) in December of 1944. The photograph was taken by Woodward's close friend F. Earl Williams, the Gardner High School principal, and it is assumed Williams helped arrange the small exhibition. Not only did we learn the chalk was NOT a chalk but that is was really an oil painting named Mountain Meadow. In this game of musical chairs (images) this painting was the one without a picture. SEE Mountain Meadow for the whole story.

In October Hills, 1942, the 1st painting

Continuing with this painting: We have a theory about the second painting Through October Hills, and as to why it is so different in size and perspective than the painting above and even the first painting... it is the prospective customer from the Vose Gallery. We believe the size, the closer perspective, the more prominent stonewall and even the change in the group of trees from the first painting where specifications given by the client who in the end, still did not buy the painting!

With that being said, this would make the third painting of this page's subject Woodward's preferred perspective and truer to his intent as to the aesthetic he initially selected in his first composition. It is almost as if he HAD to make the painting above to "right" the previous painting.

What you are looking at here is a transparent color image of the 22" x 36" Mountain Meadow overlaid on
top of the black and white sepia print of the 22" x 38" Through October Hills. We used the tree trunk (1) and roadside
rock (2) as the anchors for which we aligned the two images thus exposing their differences. You can see how closely aligned the tree and rock are because they are more focused then the rest of the illustration. The farther you get from the tree and rock reveals just how different the two paintings really are. In fact, we believe the biggest difference is that Through October Hills (the second painting) is a closer vantage point to the subject than both the first and third paintings. The hill, the stonewall (3) and trees in the field are all larger and "more prominent" than they are in the color
image ofMountain Meadow (the third painting). What cinched it for us was how nicely the two images lined up with the cuts in the field (4) on the right hand side of the painting. We consider it more than coincidental. It ties it up.