John Henry Twachtman
American, 1853 - 1902
(not assigned)New York, New York, North America
(not assigned)Cos Cob, Connecticut, North America
SchoolAmerican Impressionism; The Ten
Biography(b Cincinnati, OH, 4 Aug 1853; d Gloucester, MA, 8 Aug 1902). American painter and printmaker. He began as a painter of window-shades but developed one of the most personal and poetic visions in American landscape painting, portraying nature on canvases that were, in the words of Childe Hassam, 'strong, and at the same time delicate even to evasiveness'. His first artistic training was under Frank Duveneck, with whom he studied first in Cincinnati and then in Munich (1875-7). His absorption of the Munich style, characterized by bravura brushwork and dextrous manipulation of pigment, with the lights painted as directly as possible into warm, dark grounds derived from Frans Hals and Courbet, is reflected in such paintings as Venice Landscape (1878; Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.) and Landscape (c. 1882; Utica, NY, Munson-Williams-Proctor Inst.)
Twachtman became increasingly dissatisfied with the Munich style's lack of draughtsmanship, so he went to Paris in 1883 to study at the Académie Julian. In the winter he concentrated on drawing, and in the summer he painted in the Normandy countryside and at Arques-la-Bataille, near Dieppe. Springtime (c. 1885; Cincinnati, OH, A. Mus.) and Arques-la-Bataille (1885; New York, Met.) mirror not only his training at the Académie Julian but also the influence of the draughtsmanship and tonal values of Jules Bastien-Lepage. In its emphasis on pattern and economy of form, Arques-la-Bataille may also suggest an awareness of Whistler and oriental art. This period of Twachtman's work was his most popular, and in 1888, three years after his return to the USA, he won the Webb Prize of the Society of American Artists.
Soon after his return from France, Twachtman changed his style, painting with a lightened palette and a modified Impressionist technique, which derived less from Monet and French art than from his friend Theodore Robinson, whom Twachtman first met in Paris. By 1890 Twachtman was developing a mature and personal vision, which can be seen in pastels and etchings and in the subtle poetry of Winter Harmony (see fig.) and Old Holly House, Cos Cob (Cincinnati, OH, A. Mus.), both painted c. 1890-1900. Twachtman's work is complex, although his myriad brushstrokes and wide range of colours combine to give the impression of great simplicity.
Although he was essentially a private man, Twachtman founded an informal art school at the Holly House, a boarding house for artists at Cos Cob near Greenwich, NY, and he taught at the Art Students League and the Cooper Union in New York. In 1897, along with Childe Hassam and J. Alden Weir, he was one of the principal founders of the Ten american painters, who were considered to be a kind of Academy of American Impressionism and who left the more conservative Society of American Artists to exhibit on their own. About three years later, Twachtman and his colleagues began painting in Gloucester, MA, where his style changed once again. His painting became more direct, his colour more defined and, as in Fishing Boats at Gloucester (1901; Washington, DC, N. Mus. Amer. A.), his brushwork bolder. His overall approach began to be more openly expressive, pointing in the direction later taken by his most famous pupil, Ernest Lawson (1873-1939).
Twachtman's few figure pieces were not very successful. He was more comfortable with nature, and his attitude towards it was basically romantic and contemplative. He had a small, but impressive output of etchings. In a manner similar to that of Whistler, he used just a few lines to suggest an entire scene, as in Boats on the Maas (c. 1881-3; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A., see 1966 exh. cat., p. 38). (Source: RICHARD J. BOYLE, "John Henry Twachtman," The Grove Dictionary of Art Online (Oxford University Press) Accessed February 9,2004) http://www.groveart.com
Person TypeIndividual
Terms
- male
- Caucasian-American
