Lot 456: Robert Strong Woodward (American, 1885-1957) Red Farm in Winter, alternatively titled Under t...

Robert Strong Woodward (American, 1885-1957)

Red Farm in Winter, alternatively titled Under the Hill
Signed and dated "Robert Strong Woodward..." l.l., identified on a presentation
plaque.
Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm), framed.
Condition: Lined, retouched, craquelure.

N.B. Robert Strong Woodward was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, and lived in the area of Shelburne Falls and Buckland, where this landscape was painted. Red Barn in Winter is also known by an alternate title, Under the Hill. Robert Strong Woodward kept a diary of his artwork and a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine clippings. The artist described this painting in his diary, "Painted circa 1925. Winter view of the present Peltier house (next to the 'Lightning Splitter') where the S.F.- -Buckland Road crosses the Clessons River (about halfway between S.F. and Buckland). Little dark red farm house under a tall slender elm, backed by the rounded mountain dome and shoulder of the hill back of Leon Goodnow's. This canvas was bought from one of my early Boston exhibitions by Miss Eugenia B. Frothingham of Marlboro St. Boston." There is a second, slightly later version of this painting, whereabouts unknown. Dr. Mark L. Purington, Jr., a lifelong friend of the artist, created a website in 2002 to catalog, document, and preserve information about the life and work of Robert Strong Woodward. (1)

(1) From the artist's diary, as transcribed on the website