Quick Reference

Time Period:
Drawn in 1927.

Location:
Sumner Stetson Road
North Heath

Medium:
Chalk Drawing

Type:
Landscape

Category:
Farms, Barns

Size:
22 X 29

Exhibited:
Unknown

Purchased:
Unknown

Provenance:
NA

Noteworthy:

It is thought that there is an oil painting of the same scene and with the same name because it is of record that this chalk was originally gifted to the owner of the farm. This was a common practice by the artist after making an oil painting of a farm.

Related Links

Featured Artwork: The Bridge

RSW's Diary Comments

None.




Additional Notes


The covered or open ramp into the uppermost
level of a barn was known in local parlance
as the "barn bridge" or "Wharfing.
A photo taken of the road and the former farm in
2006 of what remains of the "bridge."
The house is still standing. It can be seen on
the other side of the ramp. The barn is gone.

This beautiful chalk drawing was not listed in our list of Woodward chalk drawings, but it is unquestionably a Woodward and has now been added to the list. It is thought that there is an oil painting of the same scene and with the same name because it is of record that this chalk was originally gifted to the owner of the farm. This was a common practice by the artist after making an oil painting of a farm.


At auction on Dec. 2, 2006, by Adam Weschler & Son, Auctioneers, Washington, DC, this chalk drawing brought a hammer price of $5520. It is now owned locally. After purchase the new owner removed it from the original frame because it was not "set back" from the glass as RSW later did in framing all of his chalk drawings. It is to be reframed with the customary set back. In so doing the date of 1927 was found on the bottom front of the drawing in between the name of the chalk and the signature of RSW.


The image of the drawing (above) was taken at the recent RSW 125th Celebration Exhibit. Reframed, it drew a round of applause from all the volunteers when it arrived to be hung at the exhibit hall. In viewing the high-resolution image (linked), you can clearly see the name, RSW's signature and the date 1927.




The Bridge was always considered one of Woodward's earliest chalk drawings. That is simply not true. Woodward's Chalk Drawings were right there from the start. His professsional exhibit, 1918, at the Boston Art Club was an oil and a chalk. He enters another chalk in 1920 to the Boston AC, then another in 1921 at the Stockbridge Public Library, leading us to the 1922, J.H. Miller Gallery exhibition where he hangs four chalks.


The Bridge was made actually during a time when Woodward actually made more chalks than oil paintings. It is very rare for Woodward to date a chalk. In fact, we do not know of any other by which had wrote the year next to his signature. To the left Greylock in Autumn is one of the oldest chalk drawings we have a picture. Beyond that, pictures get very scarce.