Featured Artwork: RSW'S Commercial Business Card

RSW's Diary Comments

A young Woodward in front of the old dairy shed
he would convert into his first studio. He named it
"Redgate," and began his commercial art business.

There would not be a diary entry for commercial artwork such as this.

Editor's Note:

This is a story repeated numerous times throughout the website, especially in our Scrapbook section. In brief, Woodward was attending the Fine Art School in Boston in 1910 when he got very sick due to a lack of proper care from trying to do it without a nurse. It would be too difficult to send him back to California where his parents are living, so his Aunt Tella (his father's sister) takes him in to the family home which also houses his grandparents.

Eugenia Beetle Herring, Bookplate, c.1915

When he is well enough, he begins his journey to make a living for himself through commercial art, making illuminations (poetry accompanied by artwork mainly for home decor) and bookplate designs. Book-plates (as he spells it on his card above) at vanity labels used to apply and stick to the inside jacket of a book you own. They are also referred to as, "Ex Libres." It is Latin meaning, "from the books." They are used to mark your book collection and were very popular at the time. The bookplates would include artwork the namesake identifies with or the family name crest or an activity, etc. like Mrs. Beetle- Herring bookplate to the left.

Woodward moves of of the Pine Brook Farm home as early as 1912. Sometime between 1913 and 1916, he rents the Burnham Cottage on the property that would later become his first home and second studio. By 1917, the year he leaves commercial work to become a painter, he is now renting the main house on the Hiram Woodward property he will later buy in 1923 after his 1922 Redgate studio fire. It is also interesting to know that Woodward is also exhibiting reverse glass paintings at craft shows in Boston as early as 1913.

To Tell Mother I love Her, c.1905   A card
made by RSW for his mother when in high school

It is important to note that while he was very successful as a painter, we are certain, by a preponderance of the evidence available to us, that his commercial work was a compromise for what he really aspired to do with his life before his accident. We believe Woodward wanted to work in publishing, as an illustrator and maybe even do some writing. As you can see on the business card above, he is also offering custom greeting cards something that always gave himself great pleasure as a adolescent - he loved making personal handcrafted gifts for family and friends for holidays and special occasions. We have a couple of examples here on the website.

Ultimately, the problem with being a commercial artist is that you need to be near major cities and industry close to publishers. But cities were too difficult to manage for someone in a wheelchair. It simply was not feasible. However, an artist makes a product, like a factory would, and they pack it and send the product to vendors that sell it. Woodward can live anywhere and is why he turned to painting, in his works, "what was left to him to do."

⮟ BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN ILLUMINATION & PROMOTIONAL WORK

Additional Notes