RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in the studio 1934. A smaller canvas I painted from the 36" x 42" Courage and Peace (which see) for the sole purpose of presenting it to Harold W. Grieve, the noted decorator of Hollywood, California in appreciation for much indeed."

A picture of Woodward and Grieve from
sometime in the late 1930s when he and his
wife, silent film star Jetta Goudal visited.

Editor's Note:

The artist the recipient of this gift, Harold Grieve, met in Los Angeles (CA) when Woodward moved there, joining his parents after completing his two year college prep scholarship and Bradley Polytechnic Institute in Peoria, IL, (today known as Bradley University). Though nine years apart in age the two knew each other through Grieve's father, the local butcher just two blocks away from where the Woodward's were living at the time.

Woodward's accident must have been a tremendous traumatic event for the young boy. It seemed to strengthen their bond. They stayed in tough and Grieve went on to work in Hollywood in its early years as a set designer. He was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, and later went on to become a Beverly Hills interior designer with clients like George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, and movie producer Bernard Hyman (all of whom bought RSW paintings). Grieve was also open an interior design studio and gallery where he hung Woodward's work and sold them on behalf of the artist.

Peace and Courage hanging above fireplace in
the Grieve home. We do not know which home or if the
couple kept their home in LA and the beach house was
merely a retreat on the weekends and what have you.

To the right ⮞ is a photograph of the painting hanging on the wall of Harold Grieve's, home. A portion of the painting also appears in Grieve's second bookplate designed by Woodward when the couple moved to the shoreline (probably Malibu given the scene) around the same time ⮟

A clip of the painting in the Grieve's new (1933)
bookplate, probably made for his new beach house.

House in Halifax, 1936

Just a couple more things about Woodward's business ties to Grieve. We only know of about 20 paintings being sent to Grieve's interior design gallery. That is just the number of painting diary entries Woodward referenced Grieve and California. Still, there are only painting diary entries for about twenty-seven percent of all known paintings and did Woodward send pastels? We do not know.


What we can tell you is that two of those California paintings made their way back home and hung at the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, MA, for an exhibition in 2022. One of those paintings, House in Halifax to the right was sold by Grieve to the wife of California's largest retail pharmacy chain. ⮞

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In April 1928, Jeanette Matthews description of a painting named, Near the Sky, bares a striking resemblance to the piece Courage and Peace and Peace and Courage. It may very well be an earlier version of the same subject. We cannot say for certain her description is the Avery Farm. It could describe any number of NE farms. See her description below ⮟

The Springfield Daily Republican, Apr. 25, 1928

Springfield Daily Republican, Apr. 25, 1928
by Jeanette Matthews

"Because it has the place of honor, because it treats of a theme that has also been done in crayon and because it really is the most moving canvas in the show, 'Near the Sky' ought to be considered. I have remarked before that Mr. Woodward shows more gift for naming his pictures than is usual among artists. This is a particularly felicitous title. It is a bare winter scene in the hills where one looks across the buildings of a farm, buildings set end to end so that they make a straight line across the picture parallel with the cold hills behind them. Such immensity of sky it would seem impossible to get into even a big canvas like this. It is stark and cold and bare in that picture, but it leaves you tingling because it is 'near the sky.' The crayon from the same theme is softer, just a shade softer in the blue of the hills, a hint less compelling, more to be lived with when one's courage is not quite at top notch and that one Mr. Woodward calls New England! Winter." [Emphasis added by staff.]

Besides the obvious difference in size, Courage and Peace (36" x 42") has numerous contextual differences with Peace and Courage (25" x 30") noted below in the side by side images. We do not have a reason for these differences. Woodward was known to do this from time to time with copies, most noteably The Greening Tree (16 x 20) and The Greening Tree (27" x 30").

A side by side comparison of Peace and Courage (left) with Courage and Peace (right)