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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
OP.1405
Wild Cherry Tree
Alternate titles: Drying Shed; Drying Sheds; Le Cerusier Sauvage (The Wild Cherry Tree); Wild Cherry Tree—East Gloucester
ca. 1900
Oil on canvas
30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York, Charles W. Goodyear Fund, 1916 (1916:1)
Provenance
Martha Twachtman, the artist's wife, Greenwich, Connecticut;
Hugo Reisinger, New York;
to (American Art Galleries, New York, Reisinger sale, January 18–29, 1916, lot 28);
(Knoedler);
to present collection, 1916.
Exhibitions
1901 Art Institute of Chicago probably
Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Works of John H. Twachtman, January 8–27, 1901, no. 48, as Drying Sheds.
1901–I Durand-Ruel probably
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, March 4–16, 1901, as Drying Shed.
1901–I Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum, Exhibition of Sixty Paintings by Mr. John H. Twachtman, Formerly Resident in Cincinnati, April 12–May 16, 1901, no. 28, as Drying Sheds, probably (or 41).
1901 Pan-American Exposition probably
Buffalo Department of Fine Arts, New York, Exhibition of Fine Arts, Pan-American Exposition, May 1–November 2, 1901, no. 775, as Drying Sheds.
1903 Ten American Painters
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Paintings, Ten American Painters, April 18–May 2, 1903, no. 30, as Wild Cherry Tree—East Gloucester.
1905 Knoedler
M. Knoedler & Co, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Pictures by John H. Twachtman, January 2–11, 1905, no. 3, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1907 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 102nd Annual Exhibition, January 21–February 24, 1907, no. 255, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1916 Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts, Second Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, May 1916, no. 90, as Wild Cherry Tree, lent by the Albright Art Gallery.
1928 Albright Art Gallery
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, New York, Twenty-Second Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, April 29–June 24, 1928, no. 118, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1937 Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art, American Painting From 1860 until Today, June 23–October 4, 1937, no. 201, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1937 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum, New York, Leaders of American Impressionism: Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, John H. Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir, October 17–November 28, 1937, no. 61, as Wild Cherry Tree, lent by the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy (Albright Art Gallery), Buffalo,NY.
1938 Jeu de Paume
Musée de Jeu de Paume in association with the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Trois siècles d'art aux Etats-Unis, May–July 1938, no. 170, as Le Cerusier Sauvage (The Wild Cherry Tree).
1939 Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, Presenting the Work of John H. Twachtman, American Painter, November 5–28, 1939, no. 4, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1945 Lyman Allyn Museum
Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, Connecticut, Work in Many Media by Men of the Tile Club, March 11–April 23, 1945, no. 151, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1952 Century Association
Century Association, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Abbott Thayer and John H. Twachtman, March 5–May 4, 1952, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1970 Hathorn Gallery
Hathorn Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, Some Quietist Painters: A Trend Toward Minimalism in Late Nineteenth-Century American Painting, April 8–29, 1970, no. 23, p. 26, ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1982 Herbert F. Johnson Museum
Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Golden Day, Silver Night, Perceptions of Nature in American Art 1850–1910, February 3–March 28, 1982, no. 52, p. 98, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1987 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Twachtman in Gloucester: His Last Years, 1900–1902, May 12–June 13, 1987. (Exhibition catalogue: Boyle 1987); (Exhibition catalogue: Gerdts 1987); (Exhibition catalogue: Hale 1987); (Exhibition catalogue: Peters 1987), no. 11, as Wild Cherry Tree.
1999 High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist, February 26–May 21, 2000. (Peters 1999–I), no. 56, as Wild Cherry Tree. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
Literature
New-York Commercial Advertiser 1901–I probably
"The Art-World. Mr. Twachtman at Durand Ruel's." New-York Commercial Advertiser, March 5, 1901, p. 4, as Drying Shed.
Mail and Express 1903
"The Ten American Painters." Mail and Express (New York), April 20, 1903, p. 6, as Wild Cherry Tree.
New York Herald 1903–III
"The Ten's Yearly Show." New York Herald, April 21, 1903, p. 12, as Wild Cherry Tree.
New-York Tribune 1903–III
"Art Exhibitions: The Ten American Painters." New-York Tribune, April 21, 1903, p. 9, as Wild Cherry Tree.
New York Times 1905
"Twachtman's Painted Poems." New York Times, January 10, 1905, p. 6, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Lloyd 1907
Lloyd, David. "The Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy." International Studio 31 (March 1907), as Wild Cherry Tree.
Public Ledger 1907
"The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual Exhibition." Public Ledger (Philadelphia), January 20, 1907, section 4, p. 36, as Wild Cherry Tree.
American Art Galleries 1916
Private Collection of the Late Hugo Reisinger. Auction catalogue, January 18–20, 1916. New York: American Art Galleries, 1916, lot 28 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Bulletin of the Detroit Museum of Art 1916
"The Second Annual Exhibition." Bulletin of the Detroit Museum of Art 10 (May 1916), p. 4, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Du Bois 1916–I
Du Bois, Guy Pené. "A Few Auction Records for American Pictures." Arts and Decoration 6 (June 1916), pp. 381 ill. in b/w, 383, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Tucker 1931
Tucker, Allen. John H. Twachtman. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1931, pp. 34–35 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Art News 1939
"Utica: A Retrospective of Twachtman." Art News 38 (November 1939), pp. 15–16, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Antiques 1947
"American Painting in London: A Comment on the Tate Gallery Exhibition." Antiques 51 (February 1947), p. 104 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Ritchie 1949
Ritchie, Andrew Carnduff. Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculpture in the Permanent Collection. Buffalo: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1949, pp. 46–47 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
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. 228, 231 ill. in b/w (fig. 39); vol. 2, p. 574 (catalogue A, no. 631), as Wild Cherry Tree. (Hale concordance).
Nash 1979
Nash, Steven A. Albright-Knox Art Gallery: Painting and Sculpture from Antiquity to 1942. New York: Rizzoli International, 1979, pp. 314 ill. in b/w, 315, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Hale 1987
Hale, John Douglass. "Twachtman's Gloucester Period: A 'Clarifying Process.'" In Twachtman in Gloucester: His Last Years, 1900–1902, by John Douglass Hale, Richard J. Boyle, and William H. Gerdts. New York: Universe and Ira Spanierman Gallery, 1987. Exhibition catalogue (1987 Spanierman), p. 13, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Peters 1987
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In Twachtman in Gloucester: His Last Years, 1900–1902, by John Douglass Hale, Richard J. Boyle, and William H. Gerdts. New York: Universe and Ira Spanierman Gallery. Exhibition catalogue (1987 Spanierman), pp. 70–71 ill. in color, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Schwartz 1987
Schwartz, Marvin. "Twachtman in Gloucester: His Last Years, 1900-1902." Antiques & The Arts Weekly, May 19, 1987, p. 55 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Gerdts 1990–VI
Gerdts, William H. "The Ten: A Critical Chronology." In Ten American Painters, by William H. Gerdts et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 23, 132 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Peters 1991
Peters, Lisa N. American Impressionist Masterpieces. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1991, pp. 66–67 ill. in color, as Wild Cherry Tree.
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. 489; vol. 2, p. 1008 ill. in b/w (fig. 508), as Wild Cherry Tree.
Peters 1997–I
Peters, Lisa N. Visions of Home: American Impressionist Images of Suburban Leisure and Country Comfort. by Lisa N. Peters. Carlisle, Pa.: Dickinson College, 1997. Exhibition catalogue, p. 112, as Wild Cherry Tree.
May 1999
May, Stephen. "John Twachtman: An American Impressionist." Antiques and the Arts Weekly (December 3, 1999), p. 71 ill. in b/w, as Wild Cherry Tree.
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), pp. 158–59 ill. in color, as Wild Cherry Tree.
Commentary

Twachtman recorded having created this work in the summer of 1900, on a charcoal sketch (D.1424), on which he wrote: “All Gloucester through the tree.” This statement captures this painting well, because Twachtman did not paint the tree and the view behind it, but rendered both at once, and almost on the same plane. The painting is among the images he created of the view from East Gloucester's Banner Hill; the triangular form of the roof of the J. F. Wonson fish building can be seen between the tree branches (see Gloucester Harbor, OP.1403). Its shape is the reverse of the tree's, whose branches form an upward-facing triangle. Other aspects of the work, including boats and water, are interlaced with the branches and the canopy of the cherry tree's leaves—that the tree lacks cherries suggests that Twachtman rendered the work in the late summer when the cherries would already have been eaten by birds. Twachtman featured what appears to be the same tree in Gloucester (OP.1408), demonstrating the way his works so often are interconnected.

The title Wild Cherry Tree does not appear in the catalogues or reviews of Twachtman’s four 1901 solo exhibitions. However, it seems likely that this was the painting Twachtman displayed in New York and Cincinnati as Drying Shed, a title perhaps referring to the fish building. A critic for the New York Commercial Advertiser commented: "Drying Shed,’ . . . leaves the spectator in a pleasant state of guessing as to where the sheds are concealed, for the greater part of the composition is taken up with a tree, the drawing and construction of which is most peculiar."[1]

The painting was not included in Twachtman's 1903 estate sale, probably because Martha Twachtman held it aside for inclusion in the Ten American Painters Exhibition of that year, where it was shown as Wild Cherry Tree. The work was featured a year later in Twachtman's memorial exhibition at Knoedler Gallery. There its sale price of $800 was noted in a copy of the catalogue.  

At some point before 1916, Wild Cherry Tree sold to the merchant and art collector Hugo Reisinger (1856–1914) as it was included in Reisinger’s estate sale that year, from which it was purchased by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, where it resides today.[2]

[1] New York Commercial Advertiser 1901.

[2] This painting is not listed in the Knoedler Dealer Stock Books database, Getty Research Institute.

Selected Literature

From New-York Tribune 1903–II

one of Twachtman’s most vivid, rapid sketches.

From Public Ledger 1907

“The Wild Cherry Tree,” in name, a gem, if not the most precious gem of the entire exhibition. It presents a very young tree, a mere film of green mist supported and accented by graceful spirals of the slender branches. Through the tree, exquisitely veiled may be seen the landscape beyond.

From Lloyd 1907

Here is a picture of the blur and shimmer of sunlight, that drenches the colours and pales them, and to which the occasional shadow of a rock here or a roof there is not so much an effect of a cause as an incident of an effect. Then straight across the face of this loose-jointed picture stretches a congregation of shadowed blotches. This is the cherry tree. It seems done at haphazard, at a venture. Yet, the very air of the sun-drowned outdoor world is in such a painting's atmospheric perspective. If you try to pick out some off-hand stroke which might well have been omitted, you soon become conscious of the artfulness, the success of this strange, yet powerful, outdoor convention.       Nothing is more difficult to reproduce the aspect of country seen through interposing foliage. Twachtman rendered it here in the quality of a veil across the light.  As a veil across the background.

From Art News 1939

Wild Cherry Tree is told in the simplest and most direct means.