Exceptional original painting by Robert H. Goddard showing the ‘Baldy’ peak of the Sierra Blanca mountain range, 23.25 x 16.5, signed in the lower right in green paint, “R. H. Goddard,” and dated, “40.” The canvas-textured art board is framed and in fine condition. Accompanied by Esther Goddard’s personally-owned and annotated three-volume set of The Papers of Robert H. Goddard, published by McGraw-Hill in 1970; an image of this painting is seen in the third volume above Goddard’s diary entry of August 12, 1940, “Painted a picture of the White Mountains (like a big jewel) from a colored movie film from 10:30 to about 4 P.M.” The Sierra Blanca is about ninety miles west of Roswell, New Mexico, where Goddard lived and worked for many years beginning in 1930. When he needed a break from his experiments, Goddard relaxed by playing the piano and painting; about a dozen of his paintings are held in the collection of Clark University.
This was originally purchased from the estate of Beatrice D. Kisk, whose husband Albert was Robert H. Goddard’s brother-in-law and machinist. After Albert Kisk passed away, Beatrice moved into the Goddard family home in Worcester with her widowed sister-in-law Esther; the home and items within it were sold in the 1980s following Esther Goddard’s death. This is the same frame that the painting was displayed in on the walls of the Goddard home at the time it was sold.