RSW's Diary Comments

Nameplate on the frame

"Painted in summer 1932. A view made from upper site of old Whitingham, Vt. Village, originally a 30 x 36 but cut down to the above size. Sold Nov., 1952, to Mrs. Theodore Crowyn of Bernardston to be hung in the Turners Falls Carnegie Library in memory of her sister, Edith Barber, librarian there for 25 years."

FROM RSW's 1932 PERSONAL DIARY RE: Mountains in Summer

Wednesday, July 20

Very hot and windy, yet hills very beautiful. Got Lois Buell and Barbara Hadley and with Julia and Phil went to Jacksonville-Wilmington for wild orchids for Mrs. Porter. Crossed to Whitingham, had lunch above Sadawga Pond. Showed Julia all the surrounding country. Made brief drawing. Sketched in canvas at 12 P.M.!

Thursday, July 21

Very, very hot with sun and no wind. Chaos at home Nurse work goes poorly. Ankle dressing takes much, much time. Mary W. And Julia H. Came early from Buckland but did not get started to Sadawga Point til 11:00. Went through Adamsville. Began 30X36. Mrs. Wise along. Home by 8:00 Girls got supper and did dishes.

Friday, July 22

Cloudy with weak showers by ten. Got packed for Sadawga picnic with White sisters, but rain presented. To Dr. Johnson in Greenfield in P.M. about ankle. Home by 5:30. Fabian got Whites and parents for their picnic supper on my porch, with studio evening afterwards.

Monday, July 25

Very hot, breezy, brilliant day. Wretchedly ill but went on picnic-Mother, Father, and White sisters to Sadawga. Found new view up back of Kentfield's Farm. Too ill to eat mouthful all day, but started chalk drawing of Sadawga and Haystack. Home by 7:00. Phoned Mrs. Cowles to come home from vacation.

Friday, September 23

Afraid to have Fabian drive car, so hired Bob Haeberle. Took Honor Buell and went to Sadawga to work on canvas from the old common, begun in July! Home through Elm Grove and Jacksonville. [Note: we have contacted the Whitingham Historical Society in regards to where the old common is located and are awaiting their reply.]

Saturday, September 24

Mrs. Storer called in morning. Worked all day on yesterday's canvas of Whitingham mountains.

Information found on the back of the sepia print reveals this piece was originally named Mountains in Vermont. Painted in 1932, it was not sold until 1952 because RSW was never satisfied with the sky. It sat in storage for some time until he re-painted the sky. He also did not like its name, renamed it Mountains in Summer.

The back of the sepia showing RSW's notes.
Print is stamped H.R. Ashworth

The original sepia print of Mountains in Vermont.
Later renamed Mountains in Summer.

In the summer of 1932 Woodward was traveling to the Whitingham, VT area quite often near Lake Sadagwa and Mount Haystack. He first began painting Red Barns and Mountains in Summer in July. On a separate trip to the area, also in July, he drew Mount Haystack Over Sadawga. He would finish both Mountains in Summer and Red Barns in September. In all, he traveled to the Whitingham area at least 14 times in 3 months. ALSO NOTE: you can clearly see the sky in the sepia does not match the sky in this painting.

On the left is Mount Haystack Over Sadawga and to the right is the oil painting Mountains in Summer
You can see the area of cleared trees in both pieces of work. The arrow represents the approximate location of where RSW painted Mountains in Summer "from the old common."

For some perspective, we made this graphic of Mount Haystack Over Sadawga along side Mountains in Summer to demonstrate the crossover between the two pieces and illustrate the differences in perpsectives. We do not know what RSW meant by "from the old common." We could not find any reference to a common in Whitingham and so have contacted the Whitingham Historical Society for more information.