RSW's Diary Comments

From a collection of old photographs in
RSW's personal items this picture of the Charlmont
Bridge, before it was destroyed by the 1938 hurricane,
closely resembles the perspective of the artwork.

See Through Summer Hills.

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"Varied blues and summer greens predominate. Red buildings at left. Covered bridge dark gray-brown. Water is opalescent with blues, greens, and violets, very iridescent and wet looking! Sky, broken white clouds with open spots of pale blue. River banks run down to warm dull gold."

Photograph to the right:

On digitalizing all of RSW's pictures that he kept with his personal items. We came across a number of photos that closely resemble paintings of a similar subject. It has raised questions as to if Woodward used photographs as a tool in creating some paintings. For this particular painting, it is dated prior to 1939 and we wonder if this painting was when he photographed his vantage point.

A photo of the old covered bridge before
the hurricane and flood took it down in 1938.

According to the diary comments made by RSW and first hand account of MLP, Woodward painted the Charlemont Bridge sometime in the mid-1930's but was not satisfied with it. It sat with his paintings to be destroyed for years. After the hurricaine of 1938 that washed out the bridge RSW pulled out the original painting of the bridge and made a new oil and chalk and destroyed the original.

In at least one newspaper write-up this painting of the covered bridge in Charlemont was referred to as The Long Bridge.

See also: Through Summer Hills, Charlemont Bridge, Down Through Summer Hills and the Chalk Through Summer Hills now hangs at Memorlal Hall Museum in Deerfield, MA.