RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted 1930. Full blossoming apple tree made at the head of Apple Valley on Abbott Howes' farm."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"One of my earlier canvases, but very decorative."

Editor's Note:

This is one of Woodward's most traveled/exhibited paintings in his entire ourve. The four years it disappeared suggest to us that it was lent out to either a close friend or the Myles Standish Hotel dinning room. A frequent courtesy he supplied the hotel throughout his relationship with the hotel's ownership. (1928 - 1944). Given that the artwork was featured throughout the entirety of the Great Depression qualifies it as what we have labeled "an editiorial painting" critical to Woodward's brand. Note the shows, Myles '31, Jordan Marsh '31, and UMass in 1938 were all big exhibits for the artist, populated by many of his favorites.

11 March, 1931, Boston Herald

11 March, 1931, Boston Herald review by renown art critic, ALBERT FRANZ COCHRANE

"There is no greater guarantee of effective composition than this subordination of the incidental to the claims of simplified unity, and various of Mr. 'Woodward's more recent canvases clearly reflect that, striving for concise, factual- recording, he has profited considerable from its companion virtues ....In the composition 'Enduring New England,' at the recent contemporary exhibition at the Art Club further clarified planes and color to the extent that the canvas was one of the best in the annual show.

This newer note finds added echoes in the Myles Standish Gallery display in such canvases: 'Old Heights' -a farm-house on a knoll- ' New England Roofs,' ' June Hills,' and a study of apple trees in bloom, entitled ' Full Bloom.'"

Painting signature

Boston Globe, March 9, 1931 by A. J. Philpott

"Full Bloom, by Robert Strong Woodward, is one of the landscape gems of Jordon Marsh exhibition---a Spring picture--- apple trees in full bloom; delicate greens, and all shot with luminosity. It is a fine painting."

The label attached to back of canvas.

Berkshire Evening Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass., Sept. 3, 1931

"The Woodward painting, an apple tree in Full Bloom, is a good example of the artist's method of disregarding details and expressing his theme as a mass, as it is, in reality, seen. On close examination the apple blossoms that at a distance from the painting appear to be pure white, are found to be a blend of almost every color."

Transcription of packing label, goes as follows:

For- "Inspection relative to possibility of color reproduction by The Farmer Magazine Evelyn Hirmon Smith, Art Director Birmingham, Alabama. "Full Bloom"