RSW's Diary Comments

There are no diary remarks for this painting. See Editor's Notes for more...

The Window; A Still Life and Winter Scene

Editor's Note:

Woodward's painting diary has an entry for a painting by this name. However, it is clear from what Woodward writes that he is referring to the painting you see to the right. We will not even include the entry because in the past it has only made matters more confusing to the audience and editors alike. Visit the artwork page linked to the right for the diary entry it was meant for ⮞

Since the last time this page was updated the staff of the website has concluded that the artist's painting diary is wrought with errors because he wrote it late in his career and almost entirely from memory despite having scrapbooks readily available to use as a reference. It is believed he made the diary because it was Dr. Mark's and Woodward's friend F. Earl Williams thought it was a great idea. The artist did not want to disappoint, but also did not give it his best effort. This also does not mean there is no value to' the document. It simply means we have to examine and vet each entry against the documents we have. The same material Woodward had but did not use. Scroll down for more...

The Boston Globe, Dec. 23, 1926
by A.J. Philpott

The Boston Globe, Dec. 23, 1926, by A.J. Philpott

"Another gem is the picture of the window end of a study, with nooks and flowers and other things on the window shelf and a wonderful snow scene outdoors. That snow scene outdoors is well done and the color on that shelf makes a splendid contrast. It must be some picture or John Spaulding wouldn't have purchased it for his collection."

Editor's Note:

Though Boston Globe art critic, A.J. Philpott does not give its name, he is clearly referring to the painting pictured with the article. The problem is, the image is incorrectly captioned, My Winter Shelf! The problem is that it was incorrectly named in the exhibit program. That is how this confusion all got started.

The Exhibit Card for the Lyman Exhibit.

We do not know how this mistake was made. We do know that Woodward's cousin, Florence Haeberle handle the business side of the exhibit. Perhaps there was a miscommunication between the two. Nonetheless, the error cannot be undone. At this time (Jun. 2025), we can say with absolute certainty that the painting bought by Mr. Spaulding is is now in the Museum of Fine Art is, in fact, The Window; A Still Life and Winter Scene. Below we will illustrate the differences between the two paintings...

"The painting My Winter Shelf was purchased by Mrs. Josephine Everett of Pasadena, CA. Mrs. Everett was a friend of the Woodward family when they lived in Los Angeles. It is believed that Woodward's father, Orion, a real estate developer, did business with Mr. Henry Everett. Mrs. Everett later a strong supporter and patron of the artist. When a painting was well liked on the East Coast, he would make another version and ship it to Mrs. Everett. He did this with several paintings.

Mrs. Everett would later bequeath a number of paintings to the Pasadena Art Museum, including, My Winter Shelf. Remaining in Woodward's estate is a letter from her lawyers in forming the artist what became of his paintings.

Red lantern (known as a skaters'
lamp) is still with the artist's estate.

My Winter Shelf and The Window: Still Life and a Winter Scene are forever intertwined because of their similarities in composition, the error on the Lyman show's exhibit card, thus leading the artist to mix the two in his diary comments complicates the matter. What's more is that both paintings were purchased by renown collectors, Mr. Spaulding and Mrs. Everett respectively. Here we must add, however, that Woodward rarely ever mistook the owner of a painting. If there has been anything we can count on, it is that, but not even this changes the evidence we have and confirmed.

Again, while various, so-called "copies" are common in the artist's oeuvre, exact copies are very rare. Woodward often varied something, whether is was size or perspective (more square 27' x 30" vs. rectangular 25" x 30"). That is true of these two canvases, however, it goes further than that ⮟

♦ Size - The Window: Still Life and a Winter Scene is 25" x 30" inches and My Winter Shelf is a much larger canvas at 30" x 36". Still, both paintings do share identical aspect ratios equaling 1.2 (for every 5" of height, there is 6" of width).

♦ Vantage Point: Woodward positioned himself from different spots to paint each. This is the strongest case to be made that they are NOT copies of each other. If you cannot see what I mean in the side by side comparison below, in My Winter Shelf on the left, Woodward is turned slightly more south revealing more of the south facing window. The other painting shows more of the west window, especially the curtains.

♦ Content - My Winter Shelf (image on the left) has a man shoveling snow outside the window, suggesting also, they were made to be different, perhaps in different weeks or even years. There are also a difference in the objects that appear in each canvas -- there is the candle to the left and statue of a man and woman sitting together in My Winter Shelf and The Window: Still Life and a Winter Scene has the glass medallion and water pitcher. Both paintings contain the red lantern shown to the upper left and we added graphics to the image below pointing out the differences.

On the left (above) is My Winter Shelf and to the right is The Window: Still Life and a Winter Scene

McCall's Magazine December 1927

There is a nearly identical painting other painting of the scene of My Winter Shelf that is unnamed. It appears in the December, 1927, issue of McCall's magazine as the artwork for an article on Christmas by Isabel Mosher. The image credit for the painting is "Marjorie Lunt," the wife of the artist's very good friend, Dr. Lawrence Lunt. Her name is scratched out in pencil and Robt Strong Woodward is written below it. We also have learned where this painting is and we have pictures, however, we have been unable to confirm its provenance to say, (1) it is the same painting published in McCall's, or (2) that the Lunt's owned it at the time of publication, or (3) if this is a third can canvas of the same scene.