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

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Related Work
loading
Keywords
OP.1200
Niagara in Winter
Alternate titles: Niagara; Niagara—Winter
ca. 1893–94
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
The New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut, Harriet Russell Stanley Fund (1947.37)
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 39, as Niagara—Winter);
to William T. Evans, New York;
to (American Art Association, New York, Evans sale, March 31–April 2, 1913, lot 187);
to (Macbeth, 1913);
to William J. Johnson, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 1914;
to (Macbeth, 1927);
to Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, 1929;
to (Macbeth, 1944);
to present collection, 1947.
Exhibitions
1903–I American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, Sale of the Work of the Late John H. Twachtman, exhibition and auction, March 19–24, 1903, no. 39, as Niagara—Winter.
1903 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, April 1903, no. 150, as Niagara in Winter.
1904 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, July 1904, no. 171, as Niagara in Winter.
1905 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, October 28, 1905, no. 158, as Niagara in Winter.
1906–II Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of American Paintings from the Collection of William T. Evans, Esq., March 31, 1906 and following days, no. 68.
1906 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, April 1906, no. 164, as Niagara in Winter.
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 10, as Niagara in Winter.
1908 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, November 1908, no. 137, as Niagara in Winter.
1909 Venice International
Venice, Italy, Eighth International Exhibition, April 22–October 31, 1909, no. 40, as Niagara, lent by William T. Evans.
1911 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, February 1911, no. 148, as Niagara in Winter.
1913 American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, The Private Collection of American Paintings Formed by the Widely Known Amateur William T. Evans, Esq. of New York, March 31–April 2, 1913, no. 187, as Niagara in Winter.
1914–I Macbeth
Macbeth Gallery, New York, A Collection of Paintings by Deceased American Artists, March 11–30, 1914, no. 22, as Niagara.
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Department of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, February 20–December 4, 1915, no. 4060, as Niagara, lent by W. J. Johnson, Esq.
1927–I Macbeth
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Sixteenth Annual Exhibition: Thirty Paintings by Thirty Artists, February 28–March 19, 1927, no. 27, as Niagara—Winter.
1942–I Babcock
Babcock Galleries, New York, Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels by John H. Twachtman, February 9–28, 1942, no. 13, as Niagara in Winter, given an incorrect date of ca. 1900.
1946 Montclair Art Museum
Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey, American Paintings by the Ten, January 1–February 10, 1946, no. 34, as Niagara in Winter.
1952 Century Association
Century Association, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Abbott Thayer and John H. Twachtman, March 5–May 4, 1952, as Niagara in Winter.
1966 Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum, John Henry Twachtman: A Retrospective Exhibition, October 7–November 20, 1966. (Exhibition catalogue: Baskett 1966); (Exhibition catalogue: Boyle 1966–I), no. 66, as Niagara in Winter, lent by the New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut.
1968 Bernard Danenberg Galleries
Bernard Danenberg Galleries, New York, Our American Heritage, September 18–October 12, 1968, no. 53, as Niagara in Winter.
1970 Indiana University Art Museum
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, The American Scene 1820–1900, January 18–February 28, 1970, no. 54, p. 29 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter.
1980 Henry Art Gallery
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, American Impressionism, January 3–March 2, 1980, p. 158 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter. Traveled to: Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, March 9–May 4, 1980; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, May 16–June 22, 1980; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, July 1–August 31, 1980.
1985 Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Niagara: Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697–1901, September 21–November 24, 1985, no. 156, p. 74 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter. Traveled to: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, July 13–September 1, 1985; New-York Historical Society, January 27–April 27, 1986.
Literature
Brush and Pencil 1903
"Some Recent Art Sales." Brush and Pencil 12 (May 1903), p. 122, as Niagara.
New-York Tribune 1903–I
"Art Exhibitions: The Twachtman, Colman and Burritt Collections." New-York Tribune, March 21, 1903, p. 9, as Niagara—Winter.
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Niagara—Winter.
New York Times 1903–III
"Twachtman Picture Sale." New York Times, March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Niagara—Winter.
American Art Association 1913
Private Collection Formed by the Widely Known Amateur William T. Evans. Auction catalogue, March 3–April 2, 1913. New York: American Art Association, 1913, lot 39 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter.
New American 1913
"Sale of Evans Pictures: Art Event of the Week." New American, March 31, 1913, p. 6, as Niagara in Winter.
New York Times 1913–II
"Clark Pays $24,000 for Two Paintings." New York Times, April 3, 1913, p. 11, as Niagara in Winter.
de Kay 1918
de Kay, Charles. "John H. Twachtman." Arts and Decoration 9 (June 1918), pp. 74 ill. in b/w, 76, as Niagara.
Bryant 1921
Bryant, Lorinda Munson. American Pictures and Their Painters. New York: John Lane, 1921, p. 181–83 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter.
Clark 1921
Clark, Eliot. "The Art of John Twachtman." International Studio 72 (January 1921), p. lxxxiii ill. in b/w.
Jackman 1928
Jackman, Rilla Evelyn. American Arts. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1928, pp. 164 ill. in b/w, 166, as Niagara.
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. 1, pp. 288, 296 ill. in b/w (fig. 64); vol. 2, p. 562 (catalogue A, no. 443), as Niagara in Winter. (Hale concordance).
New Britain Museum 1975
Catalogue of the Collection. New Britain, Conn.: New Britain Museum of American Art, 1975, p. 62, as Niagara in Winter.
Gerdts 1980
Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. Seattle: Henry Art Gallery, 1980. Exhibition catalogue, p. 158 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter.
McKinsey 1985
McKinsey, Elizabeth. Niagara Falls: Icon of the American Sublime. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 269–70, as Niagara in Winter.
Peters 1989–I
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman's Greenwich Paintings: Context and Chronology." In John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989–II National Gallery of Art), p. 32 ill. in b/w, as Niagara in Winter.
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. 365; vol. 2, p. 907 ill. in b/w (fig. 393), as Niagara in Winter.
Faxon, Berman, and Reynolds 1996
Faxon, Susan C., Avis Berman, and Jock Reynolds. Addison Gallery of American Art: 65 Years—A Selective Catalogue. Andover, Mass.: Addison Gallery of American Art, 1996, p. 60, as Niagara in Winter.
Peters 1999–I
Peters, Lisa N. John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 High Museum of Art), p. 131 ill. in color, as Niagara in Winter.
Peters 1999–II
Peters, Lisa N. "Niagara in Winter." In New Britain Museum of American Art I: Highlights of the Collection. Munich: Prestel, 1999, pp. 162–63 col. ill. in b/w, 192, as Niagara in Winter.
Gerdts 2003–I
Gerdts, William H. The Golden Age of American Impressionism. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2003, pp. 11 ill. in color, 12, 26, 67, as Niagara in Winter.
Gerdts 2003–II
Gerdts, William H. "The Golden Age of American Impressionism." American Art Review 15 (November–December 2003), pp. 108–9 ill. in color, as Niagara in Winter.
Peters 2006–III
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman and the Equipoise of Impressionism and Tonalism." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 72 ill. in color (fig. 63), 176, as Niagara in Winter.
Commentary

Twachtman created two images each of most of his Niagara Falls subjects, and this painting can be paired with Horseshoe Falls, Niagara (OP.1201). Both have approximately the same measurements and depict the Canadian side of Horseshoe Falls. The two works are Twachtman’s only Niagara scenes that are definitely winter views, indicating that they derived from the artist's first trip to Niagara, which appears to have been in the winter of 1893–94. At the National Academy of Design in April–May 1894, he showed a wintry Niagara scene that was probably the latter. Shown with the title of Horseshoe Falls, Niagara—Afternoon, it was described by critics as a view of the cataract in winter. He again visited the falls in the summer of 1894. On either or both trips, he resided with Dr. Charles Cary (1852–1931) and his wife, the artist Evelyn Rumsey Cary (1855–1924), who had studied at the Art Students League and may have extended the invitation to Twachtman in the first place. 

Whereas Twachtman appears to have identified Horseshoe Falls, Niagara as an afternoon scene in the Academy annual, Niagara in Winter was probably a product of his work in the late morning or at midday, a time when the falls were in the glow of overhead sunlight, encouraging him to use a palette of opalescent blue greens and tinted blues. What fascinated him in this subject was not its immensity, but instead the reflective properties of a bank of ice that, from his perspective, was almost as high as the falls itself, in which brilliant sunlight reflected from icicles and the partially frozen falls.

The painting was purchased from the artist’s estate sale by William T. Evans and included in the 1913 sale of his collection. Later it was acquired from Macbeth Gallery by an individual named W. J. Johnson, who lent it to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. The painting was consigned to Macbeth in 1927 and sold to the Addison Gallery of American Art, where it remained until 1944, when it was returned yet again to Macbeth, entering its present collection three years later.

Selected Literature

From New American 1913

Among the fourteen examples of John H. Twachtman I may note, “Niagara in Winter” in which the artist did not attempt to express the vastness and majesty of the scene, but contented himself with rendering the lovely green and purple tones of the water with the surge and swirl below it, and the further contrast of these moving masses with the smoky lightness of the windblown mist and spray.

From de Kay 1918

A grander note, to be sure, was struck with his pictures about the falls of Niagara: but here again he was prudent: he did not try to embrace the panorama. Generally he takes a side view of part of the Falls from below, with the clouds of iridescent sunshot spray rising before the darker downpour of the river,the whole fantastic dance swaying above the huddle of waves in the caldron that steams below. “Niagara in Winter” shown at the Macbeth Galleries is such a scene. All is fluid, all motion, all color. It takes a bold artist to so much as attempt to place the falls of Niagara on canvas, and it must be an unusual genius who can achieve a picture that even in a measure can reflect the grandeur of the scene. One can think of very able, clever and successful painters today and in the past who are and were unable to paint water in motion so as to give satisfaction to the exacting. Apparently the rush of foam and the downward plunge of solid water. Twachtman had that gift as his Niagara pieces attempt [p. 76]. 

From Jackman 1928

In [Twachtman's] room at the Art Palace of the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, 1915, it was interesting to study his different methods of expression and to compare them with those of other artists who had painted the same or similar subjects.  For example, his “Niagara” (Plate LXXII), where the entire canvas was less than two feet in height, brought to the observer much more of the spirit of that great cataract than the “Niagara Falls from the Canadian Shore,” many times its size, painted by F. E. Church, which could be studied in a near-by room.  While the latter is hard, dry, and uninteresting in its excess of detail, the little Twachtman canvas is full of light, atmosphere, and spray--the kind that makes the air heavy and feels damp against one's cheek.  A careful comparison of these two pictures shows plainly the emancipation of modern American painters.