RSW's Diary Comments

None.

The Art News, Dec. 1, 1923. Exhibited at Grand Central Art Galleries in NYC in April, 1944 to January 1947

"In the current exhibition of the National Academy of Design. The brilliancy of autumn is here set down in terms that are positive. Bright reds and greens abound, complemented by a greenish sky shot with rose."

ADDENDUM TO PAST INFORMATION REGARDING THIS PAINTING:

There is no instance more frustrating then when we have conflicting information regarding a painting. The painting above is 30" x 30" in size and was sold at the Vose Galleries in Boston in the month of May 2006. Vose listed it as labeled with the name, "Autumn."

October Pageant, 1944, 24" x 36"

A painting named "Autumn" (30 x 36) first appears in 1931 at the Myles Standish Galleries in February of 1931. Yet, Dr. Mark was pretty confident this painting was really a painting that first appears in 1923 at the National Academy of Design titled "October Pageant." October Pageant, however, is also a 30" x 36" sized painting. The reason we believe Doc felt strongly this painting is the 1923 October Pageant is its style, tonal and impressionistic, is distinctly early 1920s. By 1931, Woodward has changed his style to a more polished and luminant vibrancy for which the impressionistic style is unsuitable. Moreover, the excerpt from the article above accurately describes this painting. Particularly the reference to rose in the sky.

Complicating matters more is that another painting titled "October Pageant" also listed as a 30 x 36 inch painting re-appears 21 years later in a feature yet unnamed New York City exhibition we believe to be held at the Grand Central Art Galleries (G.C.A.G.). The unidentified exhibition lasted 4 years! We have yet another "October Pageant" in the size of a 24 x 36 listed in G.C.A.G.'s 1949 yearbook. But do we? Are there 4 painting? Or are there 2? Maybe 3?

Unnamed: Across the Apple Valley, 1921
The other square painting - 23" x 23"
In this painting, one can clearly see the
impressionistic style of RSW's early years.

First of all, the size 30 x 36 was very rare early in RSW's career. From 1918 to 1930 there are only 5 known paintings listed at that size. One of them is the 1923 October Pageant. The painting above is a 30 x 30 and we wonder if maybe the painting was cut down to that size by its owner. This is not unheard of. We have other examples of paintings being cut down. Besides we have only one other example of RSW painting a perfectly square painting, a 23 x 23 inch painting in 1922.

Still, because the years of the square paintings are so close together we wondered if the 30 x 30 is for real and it is listed improperly in the exhibition records. This would not be a first. There are many examples of the exhibition records being inaccurate. For instance in this very example we have one. The 1944 October Pageant, listed as a 30 x 36, is in fact a 24 x 36 painting. This has been confirmed. We have other examples of auctions flat out getting names wrong, or naming a painting themselves.

To answer our above questions, our conclusion is, this this painting is the 1923 October Pageant. There is a 1931 painting titled Autumn but we have no image of it, and there is a 1944 painting named October Pageant which is a 24 x 36 inch painting. Three paintings in all, not four.