John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone, ca. 1895 (OP.1313). Fig. 1. The Emerald Pool, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
Fig. 1. The Emerald Pool, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
Image: Lisa N. Peters
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Keywords
OP.1313
Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone
Alternate title: Near the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone
ca. 1895
Oil on canvas
25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas, Purchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 2006 (31.266.1)
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. 78, as Near the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone, lent by Milch Galleries, New York.
2002 Kunstforum Wien
Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Impressionism: America—France—Russia, October 25, 2002–February 23, 2003, no. 27, pp. 98–99 ill. in color, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
2004 Museum of the American West
Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, Drawn to Yellowstone: Artists in America's First National Park, September 4, 2004–January 23, 2005, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone. Traveled to: Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, Spring–Summer 2005.
2006 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter," May 4–June 24, 2006. (Nelson 2006); (Parkes 2006); (Peters 2006–I); (Peters 2006–II); (Peters 2006–III); (Peters 2006–IV), no. 53, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone, shown only in New York. Traveled to: Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, July 13–October 29, 2006.
Literature
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. 374; vol. 2, p. 919 ill. in b/w (fig. 405), as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
Sotheby's New York 2000–II
American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture. Auction catalogue, November 30, 2000. New York: Sotheby's, 2000, lot 20 ill. in color, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
Benesch et al. 2002
Benesch, Evelyn, et al. Impressionismus: Amerika--Frankreich--Russland (Impressionism: America--France--Russia). Vienna: Palace Editions, 2002, pp. 98–99 ill. in color, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
Parkes 2006
Parkes, Simon. "A Conservator's Appreciation." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N. Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), p. 17, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
Peters 2006–IV
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N. Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 184–85 ill. in color, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
Peters 2024
Peters, Lisa N. "John Twachtman: An American Impressionist's Yellowstone." Montana: The Magazine of Western History 74 (Autumn 2024), pp. 11 ill. in color, 18, as Edge of the Emerald Pool, Yellowstone.
Commentary

The translucent greens and turquoises of the Emerald Pool in Yellowstone were the result of algae and bacteria and of the pool’s fluctuating temperature. The pool is located in the Black Sand Basin in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin, west of Old Faithful (fig. 1). Twachtman may have rendered this scene on the same day that he created The Emerald Pool (OP.1311). Here he cropped the pool and scene more closely and captured it at a time when steam was rising up from the surface obscuring its far end. The scene is almost flattened entirely against the picture plane resulting in an abstract and mystical image. Here Twachtman conveyed his view of Yellowstone as a place “fine enough to shock any mind.”[1]

This painting is among the Yellowstone views owned by William A. Wadsworth, who funded Twachtman’s 1895 trip to the park.

[1] John H. Twachtman to William A. Wadsworth, September 22, 1895.