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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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Additional Images
Niagara Falls, Winter, 1879 (OP.317). Verso: OP.317, Niagara Falls, Winter.
Verso: OP.317, Niagara Falls, Winter.
Niagara Falls, Winter, 1879 (OP.317). Fig. 1. B. L. Singley, 171— The "Beauteous Queen of Cataracts"—American Falls, Niagara Falls, N.Y., U.S.A., 1901, stereo view, Keystone View Company, Collection of Lisa N. Peters.
Fig. 1. B. L. Singley, 171— The "Beauteous Queen of Cataracts"—American Falls, Niagara Falls, N.Y., U.S.A., 1901, stereo view, Keystone View Company, Collection of Lisa N. Peters.
Keywords
OP.317
Niagara Falls, Winter
Alternate title: Niagara Falls
1879
Oil on canvas
24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)
Signed, dated, and inscribed lower right: J. H. Twachtman N.Y. 79
Private collection, Columbus, Georgia
Provenance
(Knoedler, by 1957);
(Maynard Walker Gallery, New York);
to Iola Haverstick, New York, 1966;
by descent in the family;
to (Peter Jung, 2005);
to (Betty Krulik Fine Art, New York, 2009);
to present collection, 2011.
Exhibitions
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. 63, as Niagara Falls, lent by Mrs. Iola Haverstick, New York.
Literature
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. 562 (catalogue A, no. 442), as Niagara Falls, Winter. (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. 362; vol. 2, p. 900 ill. in b/w (fig. 386), as Niagara Falls, Winter.
Sotheby's New York 2002–I
American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture. Auction catalogue, May 22, 2002. New York: Sotheby's, 2002, lot 31 ill. in color, as Niagara Falls.
Shannon's 2008
Fine American and European Paintings. Auction catalogue, May 1, 2008. Milford, Conn.: Shannon's Fine Art Auctioneers, 2008, lot 45 ill. in color, as Niagara Falls.
Commentary

Inscribed and dated “N.Y. 79,” this grisaille image of a frozen Niagara Falls may have been created by Twachtman for use as an illustration, but it was never reproduced. There is no evidence that Twachtman visited the falls until 1893, and thus he probably created this image from one of the  stereo views or photographs, which were popular tourist items (fig. 1). His image is across the frozen cataract (between the American and Canadian Falls), to Goat Island. In the work, he acknowledged the tourist presence at the falls, depicting in the upper left the John Roebling bridge that crossed the river, the lodge in the middle distance, where visitors could stay overnight, and their presence, in tiny figures venturing to the edge of the falls.