[IMAGE, Bottom of page]: "At Peace", oil.


... exact center of the canvas. To most landscape list of his time that would've seemed to disastrous, but Woodward had a rare talent for picking out a balanced scene with his eye and then to train it accurately. Even the asymmetrical structure of "The Leaning Silo" ( "The Slanting Silo" see addendeum below:) could not upset this sense of equilibrium in his painting. Never would he have to move an object from its real place in a scene to get a balanced composition.

He seldom visited an exhibit of his paintings because, as a contemporary critic wrote: "he fears that if he himself should appear at the galleries where they are showing, a sentimental interest might be awakened in his work; and he wants no such superficial interest, but rather desires his power as an artist to be the foundation for the reputation which he is building so rapidly."

Living and working among the hills surrounding his home, Woodward was well acquainted with the neighborhood families. The Keaches, living up the hill from his Buckland home, are a fine example of this. "Mrs. Keach's Front Porch", "The Keach's Stove", "Country Sitting Room" and many other paintings portray the simplicity and dignity so characteristic of rustic New England. He "understood the kind of people who built the Hillside farm houses and barns, and the winding roads which time, and wind, and rain, and snow have made picturesque."

Addendum: In print "The Leaning Silo" is actually named "The Slanting Silo".