RSW's Diary Comments

Mrs. Henry Everett
The only know picture of her...

• Woodward did not keep records of the pastels he called "chalk drawings."

Editor's Note:

Mrs. Josephine Everett of Cleveland, OH, and Pasadena, CA, was an early supporter of Woodward. We are not sure when the two became acquainted but we are sure it was through the artist's father, real estate developer, Orion Leroy ("O.L.") Woodward. Most people do not know this but young Woodward spent much of his youth outside of New England, primarily in the Midwest, in places like Ohio and Illinois. The Briggs Company, for which O.L. worked was headquarter in Mansfield, OH, until it moved to Los Angeles, CA, in 1905. Mrs. Everett's husband was in development as well, but primarily in power and transportation.

We can see why Woodward and Mrs. Everett were drawn to each other by their love of art, but we also know that Mrs. Everett was, not only an avid collector, and patron, but also know to have a very diverse and eclectic sensibility. She did not discriminate against modern trends or hold to traditional norms of art. One patten we noticed with Woodward was when a painting had great success on the east coast, he would make another and send it to Mrs. Everett! She was also the only one we know that Woodward went out of his way to see her when she came to New York, often so the two could attend the Watercolor Society's annual show. that is how close they were.

Los Angeles Times, August 12, 1928

⮜ To the left is a clipping from August 12, 1928, The Los Angeles Times newspaper regarding a "loan" exhibition of Mrs. Everett's watercolors. For those of you who do not know, pastel paintings often appear with watercolors because they are both considered "drawings" because both are created on paper. (Woodward used hard compressed "cardboard" or simply board for his pastels.)

You will note that this article states, "the farm drawings by Robert Strong Woodward," indicating more than one. We do not know how many but two years prior, Mrs. Everett lent a painting named, Massachusetts Barnto the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1926.

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Label on the back of this pastel is from "Pasadena Art Museum, Estate of Mrs. Henry Everett". It was one of six paintings left to the museum where Mrs. Everett was a trustee. She also left paintings to the Fine Arts Museum in San Diego. Neither museum exist today in its original form. The Pasadena Museum was bought out by industrialist and philanthropist, Norton Simon, in 1974 and the museum sold paintings that no longer fit in the future of the now named, Norton Simon Museum.

FOR OUR SCRAPBOOK PAGE DEVOTED TO MRS. EVERETT: CLICK HERE