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John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society

Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
P.700
The Willows
Alternate titles: Landscape in Holland; The Willow; Willows
ca. 1885
Pastel on paper
18 1/8 x 22 1/2 in. (46 x 57.2 cm)
Brigham Young University, Museum of Art, Provo, Utah (820016300)
Provenance
Probably (Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman–Weir sale, February 7, 1889, no. 2, as Willows, 13 x 19 1/2 in.);
(American Art Galleries, New York, Montross sale, February 8, 1923, lot 45 as Landscape in Holland);
to (Vose, 1923);
to present collection, 1941.
Exhibitions
1886 J. Eastman Chase's Gallery
J. Eastman Chase's Gallery, Boston, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, January 19–30, 1886, no. 22, as Willows.
1888 Wunderlich
H. Wunderlich & Co, New York, Second Exhibition of the Painters in Pastel, May 7–26, 1888, no. 56, as Willows, pastel.
1888 Chicago Inter-State
Art Hall, Chicago, Sixteenth Annual Exhibition, Inter-State Industrial Exposition, September 5–October 20, 1888, no. 405, as Willows, pastel.
1889–I Fifth Avenue Art Galleries probably
Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir and J. H. Twachtman, February 1–7, 1889, no. 2, as Willows.
1900 Cincinnati Museum Association possibly
Cincinnati Museum Association, Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman and His Son Alden Twachtman, April 6–May 13, 1900, no. 9, as Willows, pastel.
1913 New York School of Applied Design for Women
New York School of Applied Design for Women, Fifty Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 15–February 15, 1913, no. 51, as The Willow, lent by Mrs. J. H. Twachtman.
1913–I Albright Art Gallery
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Paintings and Pastels by the Late John H. Twachtman, March 11–April 2, 1913, no. 40, as The Willow, pastel, lent by Mrs. J. H. Twachtman.
Literature
Boston Evening Transcript 1886
"Paintings and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman." Boston Evening Transcript, January 23, 1886, p. 6, as Willows.
Boston Herald 1886
"Twachtman’s Paintings and Pastels at Chase's, Etc.: Mr. J. H. Twachtman." Boston Herald, January 24, 1886, p. 13, as Willows.
Daily Inter-Ocean 1888
"Art and Artists: The Exposition." Daily Inter-Ocean (Chicago), September 30, 1888, p. 12, as Willows.
New York Times 1888–I
"Professors of Pastels." New York Times, May 5, 1888, p. 4, as Willows.
Art Amateur 1888–II
"The Pastel Exhibition." Art Amateur 19 (June 1888), p. 4, as Willows.
Sun 1889–II
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Willows.
American Art Association 1923
An Important Collection of American Paintings Selected by and to be Sold by Order of the Well-known Connoisseur, Mr. N. E. Montross, of this City. Auction catalogue, February 8, 1923. New York: American Art Association, 1923, lot 45, as Landscape in Holland.
Hale 1957
Hale, John Douglass. "Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1957. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1958, vol. 2, p. 529 (catalogue G, no. 962), as Landscape in Holland. (Hale concordance).
Peters 1995
Peters, Lisa N. "John Twachtman (1853–1902) and the American Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Frontier within the Terrain of the Familiar." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, City University of New York, 1995. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1996, vol. 1, p. 263; vol. 2, p. 802 ill. in b/w (fig. 278), as Willows.
Commentary

This is presumably the pastel shown as Willows in Twachtman’s 1886 solo exhibition at J. Eastman Chase’s Gallery in Boston. A reviewer for the Boston Evening Transcript described the work on view as a “study of willows” that was charming. A pastel with the title Willows again received attention when Twachtman included it in the second exhibition of the Society of Painters in Pastel in 1888. The New York Times stated: “‘Willows’ is full of soft, dry, green foliage and of long grass in which weeds are flowering.” The Art Amateur called Willows “a capital study in gray, green and brown.” Also in 1888, Willows was among the eleven works Twachtman sent to the sixteenth annual Inter-State Exposition in Chicago. There a critic for the Daily Inter-Ocean called it “somber enough to frighten the wits out of the elf child as he nestles in his father’s arms.”

It was probably this pastel that was also included, as Willows, in the sale of the work of Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir, held February 7, 1889 at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries. It was listed in the show's catalogue with measurements of 13 x 19 1/2 inches. The height measurement does not match this work, but perhaps it was printed in error. No other pastels by Twachtman that are known depict this subject. 

The work is likely to be among the pastels Twachtman created in Holland in the summer of 1885, when he began to explore the medium in the company of William Merritt Chase and Robert Blum. His stylistic method here concurs with a time when he used pastels with the fluidity of oil, blending hues for tonal effects, such as the nuanced greens that fill this scene.