RSW's Diary Comments

Strength of New England Sepia

"Painted in 1947. Old William Bardwell farm in East Shelburne in Green River district. End of old white N. E. farm house, a group of massive yard maples to the right. To the left of the house a side grassy road with separate shed and barns running out of the picture over which is a sloping shoulder of mountain (across Green River) over the rim of which shows the pale blue peak of Mt. Monadnock. Sky mostly plain with just a small 'feather' cloud sloping at the upper left. A canvas redolent with the principles and elements of New England."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

"Weathered white house, red brick chimneys, gray and red barns. Tawny-green September maples in yard. Dull violet and blue hills against summer blue sky, fading to pinky cream at horizon. Green lawn, pale ochre roadway in foreground."

A close up view of the boy, man, and the cat...

Original Note by Dr. Mark:

Painted from the back seat of the Packard phaeton in East Shelburne, Mass.
  ⮝ Dr. Mark was probably with Woodward when he painted this. In 1946, he would have just returned from his service in the military and would soon leave for college.

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redolent

"...is an adjective that means smelling strongly of something, or making you think of something through a strong scent or memory..."

  ⮝ The use of the term "redolent" to describe this painting "with the principles and elements of New England..." piqued our interest. Comments like this are rare because it exudes a sentimentality the artist tries to avoid.

For this reason, we focused our attention to the people in the painting. When you look closely, there appears to be a young boy, possibly holding a teddy bear, facing what appears to be his grandfather (the white haired man).

From left to right, friend Ethel Dow, Woodward, and
Dr. Mark as a young man (we believe, before he served).

Synonyms for redolent include, "evocative" and "reminiscent" and for context we will suggest that this holds far more meaning to Woodward than is obvious. Evocative means "a thing actively calls forth a memory or image..." For context, with Dr. Mark being home for a short period of time, we suspect Woodward is prompted (subconsciously) to recall the many years of his summers coming "home" to Buckland from wherever he and his parents are living at the time to visit his own grandparents.

Everything Woodward painted was redolent of New England, so why this is any different can only be the complex emotions of how he is feeling about having Dr. Mark back for just a short period of time. The movement is evoked viscerally and the artist links that feeling with New England.