Sidebar: THE IMPORTANCE WOODWARD
PLACED ON HIS SIGNATURE

Particular about what he signed...

We have a number of examples of Woodward altering his signature when asked to sign a work of art he gave someone as a gift. Dr. Purinton one of them! Not even for Doc did he compromise his standard. When Doc asked him to sign a small chalk drawing he gave him for Thanksgiving, Woodward, only initialed it. On another occasion, Woodward gifted Doc a beech tree painting for his Boston apartment in medical school. Doc again asked him to sign it and he did so, using the red "S" but left out the full name "Strong." Once, a neighbor asked him to sign a watercolor of a bouquet of flowers he painted as a child and he scribbled an illegible mark...

Woodward was generous when gifting paintings. Many of his gifts to people were under what he considered "professional size," meaning they were under his most common painting size, 25" x 30" and most of them under 20 inches in size. Professional sized paintings he gave as gifts or (lent out for extented periods of time) mostly went to friends, relatives and select locations (hotels, and/or restaurants). A number of them similar versions of named paintings. There are two paintings he gifted to local churches that he did not name or sign (See Unnamed:Modest Church and Unnamed: Stonewalls Meet)

It is not uncommon for creative-types, artsit, etc... to not want their name on anything they consider sub-par. Woodward was no exception, however, we consider it important to point out that while, lets say, Unnamed: New England Horizon, was lacking something according to his standard, does not mean it is not every bit as meaningful to him. He loved it in some way and that is why we believe he did what he could and gave to someone he loved. The same can be said for many other paintings found in the Unnamed Gallery, which we feel have some real gems.

Typical Pattern of RSW signing and naming paintings...

Every painting that exhibited at a show or gallery was named and signed

Paintings sold directly from his studio were also signed but were not necessarily given names.

Paintings both unnamed and unsigned are such for either of the following reason: (1) given as a gift to a friend, family member, neighbor or organization or (2) remained in his stash of paintings which he was not quite satisfied or the painting was incomplete somehow but still hoped to either complete, fix, or re-paint the subject at later time.

Paintings with a purple "D" on the back were marked as so to be destroyed (burned), a task Dr. Purinton often carried out when he worked for Woodward and continued after his death. Some "purple D" paintings survived when his family asked a court for permission not to comply with the will to destroy the paintings in their possession for sentimental reasons. The court ruled the family can keep them but they must never be sold.

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