RSW's Diary Comments

The following is RSW's comments regarding the 27 x 30 version of a painting by the same name
Greening Tree, 27 x 30.

"Painted in 1931. Painted at Keach's farm. Very large dramatic apple tree in very full bloom (white), little red barn and parts of Keach?s house beyond --- over them the mountains under a blue and white May sky---foreground lush green meadow with some white ducks in the grass. Sold to Miss Shea, N.Y. in 1956."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"Light and delicate with spring greens, looking too dark in this photograph. The little barn red, the tree snowy white, the clouds, delicate spring colorings, the hills pale blues and violets."

"Spirit of New England countryside in May. Lush May greens, barn pale pinky red, hills violet. Blue sky with May clouds. Apple tree in full bloom - white. A very happy canvas!"

This piece recently came up for auction (Sept. 7, 2015) in New Hamphire selling for $3100. The website was not aware of it's existence prior to the auction.

We have no further information to provide. We are unable to determine if this piece was painted prior to or after the 27 inch painting. Another oddity is the painting's size, 16" x 20", was not a common size RSW worked with. We think it may be possible RSW did it for a particular client to fit a specific area, but for who... we do not know.

It was common for RSW to mention another (or similar) artwork in his diary comments, however, there is NO mention of the 16 x 20 version of the same scene. The website staff finds this unusual because the barns, greening tree and skies for each piece are remarkably similar which suggest a direct relationship (especially the sky!).

A side by side comparison of the 27 x 30 sephia image and the newly discovered 16 x 20.
The paintings are nearly identical in perspective, in fact, the barns match perfectly.

Also Noteworthy: Although the sepia image is not of great quality, the skies of both paintings appear remarkably similar in context and perspective, making their relationship and RSW's never mentioning both paintings all the more intriguing.

Below: Is a super-imposition of the two images and you can see the barns match perfectly but there are variable differences in perspective of the trees, hill and farmhouse in the background.

This is a superimposed image of Greening 16 and Greening 27.
The barns and a portion of the tree line up perfectly.

Below: are two picture from the back of the stretcher. One is a stamp regarding- AMCE, Oleadale, Long Island. We have been unable to identify who or what this is. We can tell you that there is a neighborhood named Oleadale in Jamaica, NY near Queens. The other picture is of a handwritten name and address. Could this be the original buyer of the painting? We could not tell you because Woodward did not cite this piece in his records. We can state that the address given in Springfield, MA is a legitimate location but we could not find anything regarding Mr. Stevens.

An upright image of the stamp.

An upright image of handwriting

For more information on what a Greening Tree is, please Click Here!