SOUTH DEERFIELD — Art fans are welcome to Memorial Hall Museum starting today to view paintings of barns located throughout Franklin County.
Featured in the exhibit is an oil painting by Robert Strong Woodward (1885-1957), called Farmer’s Castle. In that painting, the rustic looking Warfield barn sits on a small hill in Charlemont overlooking a tranquil farm scene.
According to a news release, the painting was recently donated to the museum by John Warfield Glaze and Shirley J. Glaze.
“Using perspective to literally heighten the barn on the canvas and in our minds,” Woodward, who was born in Northampton and began painting after a gunshot paralyzed him from the waist down, “succeeded in dignifying this rural structure to a position of honor,” according to Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association.
Over a span of three decades, Woodward completed more than 750 oil and pastel paintings — many of which were inspired by surrounding farmland in Franklin County.
“Surrounded by rolling hills and farmlands,” the release stated, “Woodward found beauty and inspiration in his neigbhors’ barns.”
Five other “privately owned and rarely-seen” paintings of barns in Buckland, Colrain and Charlemont, will also be featured in the art exhibit.
The exhibit is organized by the nonprofit organization Friends of Robert Strong Woodward, and will run until Oct. 30, 2017 in Memorial Hall Museum at 8 Memorial St. in Deerfield. Hours for the museum are Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday) 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for youth and students.
You can reach Andy Castillo
at: acastillo@recorder.com