Artist Against All Odds

Click here to order on-line:

Western Massachusetts landscape painter Robert Strong Woodward (1885-1957) is the subject of a new book by Janet Gerry. For readers of all ages, ARTIST AGAINST ALL ODDS: The Story of Robert Strong Woodward has been published by Paideia Publishers.

Hailed as "a compelling read" and "beautifully written," ARTIST AGAINST ALL ODDS tells with grace and humor how Buckland, Massachusetts painter Robert Strong Woodward came to share his unique view of the rural New England landscape with the world. The book includes a selection of color images of Woodward's paintings and an illustrated map by cartographer Angus McCusker highlighting the location of Woodward's western Franklin County, Massachusetts studios.

ARTIST AGAINST ALL ODDS is available for sale at Boswell's Books, Sawyer News Company, and Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom , in Shelburne Falls; and at World Eye Bookstore, in Greenfield. The book can also be purchased on-line.

Robert Strong Woodward's legacy as a painter is found in his meticulous and joyful rendition of the magnificent and ever changing landscape of his beloved rural western Massachusetts. After recovering from an accident at age 21 that left him unable to walk, he spent a few months of study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston then moved permanently to western Massachusetts. A self-trained illuminist, Woodward at age 30 turned to landscape painting, embracing the impressionist painter Henri Matisse's admonition that "an American should learn his métier and work in America."

Portraying the farms, hillsides, homesteads and natural beauty of Franklin and Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Woodward earned international accolades as a preeminent painter of the New England landscape. At the height of his career he enjoyed the friendship of the poet Robert Frost, in whose collection his work was well represented, and had been named the recipient of the Gold Medal of Honor awarded at the Boston Tercentenary Fine Arts Exhibition in 1930.

Having created an oeuvre of more than 600 oil paintings and chalk drawings, Woodward's work is represented in many private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Yale University Art Gallery. Perhaps it would please Woodward most to know that his paintings continue to bring enjoyment to viewers at the Buckland Historical Society in the little village he called home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janet Gerry's interest in Robert Strong Woodward was piqued in childhood where she lived two houses away from one of the artist's studios. A native of rural Buckland, Massachusetts, Gerry is a graduate of Middlebury College. She enjoys reading, running and sleeping late on Saturdays.

Speaking about why she wrote AN ARTIST AGAINST ALL ODDS: The Story of Robert Strong Woodward, author Janet Gerry said, "My great wish in writing this book was to introduce a new generation of admirers to Robert Strong Woodward - and offer readers an opportunity to delight in the beauty that was his life's work. The book has been written not just because he deserves to be better known to the wider world, but because anyone who gets to know Robert Strong Woodward and his paintings will be well rewarded."

For further information and for interviews with author Janet Gerry please contact Grace Friary gracefriary@comcast.net