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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
Harbor View Hotel, ca. 1902 (OP.1445). Fig. 1. Booklet advertising The Harbor View Hotel (East Gloucester, Massachusetts,1904), p. 1, Marjorie Bouve papers, 1892–1972 (bulk 1892–1918) (M89): Box 7, Archives and Special Collections, Northeastern University Library, Boston.
Fig. 1. Booklet advertising The Harbor View Hotel (East Gloucester, Massachusetts,1904), p. 1, Marjorie Bouve papers, 1892–1972 (bulk 1892–1918) (M89): Box 7, Archives and Special Collections, Northeastern University Library, Boston.
Harbor View Hotel, ca. 1902 (OP.1445). Fig. 2. Studio rented by Twachtman at the Harbor View Hotel in the summer of 1902.
Fig. 2. Studio rented by Twachtman at the Harbor View Hotel in the summer of 1902.
Harbor View Hotel, ca. 1902 (OP.1445). Fig. 3. Booklet advertising The Harbor View Hotel (East Gloucester, Massachusetts,1904), p. 2, Marjorie Bouve papers, 1892–1972 (bulk 1892–1918) (M89): box 7, Archives and Special Collections,, Northeastern University Library, Boston.
Fig. 3. Booklet advertising The Harbor View Hotel (East Gloucester, Massachusetts,1904), p. 2, Marjorie Bouve papers, 1892–1972 (bulk 1892–1918) (M89): box 7, Archives and Special Collections,, Northeastern University Library, Boston.
Related Work
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Keywords
OP.1445
Harbor View Hotel
Alternate titles: Artist's Last Painting; The Last Canvas
ca. 1902
Oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 30 1/4 in. (76.8 x 76.8 cm)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, William Rockhill Nelson Trust (33-57)
Provenance
J. Alden Twachtman, the artist's son, Greenwich, Connecticut;
to present collection, 1933.
Exhibitions
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. 16, as The Last Canvas, lent by Mrs. J. H. Twachtman.
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Department of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, February 20–December 4, 1915, no. 4076, as Harbor View Hotel.
1928 Milch
Milch Galleries, New York, An Important Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, March 12–24, 1928, no. 14, as Artist's Last Painting.
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. 72, as Harbor View Hotel, lent by the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Mo.
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. 91, p. 29 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel, lent by the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City.
1980 Henry Art Gallery
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, American Impressionism, January 3–March 2, 1980, p. 68, as Harbor View Hotel. 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.
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. 19, as Harbor View Hotel.
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. 60, as Harbor View Hotel. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
2019–20 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Edward Hopper and the American Hotel, Richmond, Virginia, Edward Hopper and the American Hotel, October 26, 2019–February 23, 2020. (Jensen 2019), as Harbor View Hotel. Traveled to: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields July 17–October 25, 2020. There was a publication, and the, Indiana, July 17–October 25, 2020.
Literature
Boston Herald 1902–III
"Twachtman and Friends at East Gloucester: Studio Where His Fatal Illness Began and Summer Headquarters of Other Artists." Boston Herald, October 26, 1902, p. 5.
Philadelphia Press 1917
"Charming Pictures Put on Exhibition. Works of the Late John H. Twachtman Displayed by the Art Alliance." Philadelphia Press, May 15, 1917, p. 10 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel.
Art Digest 1933
"Twachtman's Last Picture For Kansas City." Art Digest 7 (May 1,1933), p. 18 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel.
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. 297 ill. in b/w (fig. 65), 298; vol. 2, p. 554 (catalogue A, no. 282), as Harbor View Hotel. (Hale concordance).
Boyle 1974–I
Boyle, Richard. American Impressionism. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1974, pp. 166–67 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel.
Boyle 1979
Boyle, Richard. John Twachtman. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1979, pp. 84–85 ill. in color, as Harbor View Hotel.
Boyle 1980
Boyle, Richard. "John Henry Twachtman: Tone Poems on Canvas." Antiques World 3 (December 1980), pp. 67 ill. in color, 69, as Harbor View Hotel.
Gerdts 1980
Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. Seattle: Henry Art Gallery, 1980. Exhibition catalogue, p. 68, as Harbor View Hotel.
Gerdts 1984
Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. New York: Abbeville, 1984, p. 192 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel.
Boyle 1987
Boyle, Richard J. "John Twachtman's Gloucester Years." 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. 24, as Harbor View Hotel.
Gerdts 1987
Gerdts, William H. "John Twachtman and the Artistic Colony in Gloucester at the Turn of the Century." 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. 41, as Harbor View Hotel.
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 Harbor View Hotel.
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. 86-87 ill. in color, as Harbor View Hotel.
Boyle 1989
Boyle, Richard J. "John H. Twachtman's Mastery of Method." In In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of J. H. Twachtman, Lisa N. Peters et al. Exhibition catalogue (1989 Spanierman), pp. 52 ill. in b/w (fig. 41), 53, as Harbor View Hotel.
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. 21 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel.
Adams 1991
Adams, Henry. Handbook of American Paintings. Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1991, p. 130 ill. in b/w, as Harbor View Hotel.
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. 486; vol. 2, p. 1002 ill. in b/w (fig. 502), as Harbor View Hotel.
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. 162, 164 ill. in color, as Harbor View Hotel.
Conrads 2007
Conrads, Margaret C. The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007, pp. 525–26, ill. in color, as Harbor View Hotel.
Jensen 2019
Jensen, Kirsten M. "The Hotel in American Art." In Edward Hopper and the American Hotel, by Leo G. Mazow, with Sarah G. Powers. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2019. Exhibition catalogue (2019–20 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts), 160–61 ill. in color, as Harbor View Hotel.
Commentary

Found on Twachtman’s easel at the time of his death in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1902, Harbor View Hotel is said to be the artist’s last painting. Its title derives from the hotel where Twachtman had been residing that summer. An article published in the Boston Herald in October 1902, by an artist (as yet unidentified) who spent time with him during the summer, reported that he “had started two important canvases this year, one of the ferry landing at Gloucester (probably OP.1441) and the other of the Harbor View House, with the great elm tree in front of it, from the end of the long pier. This was the last canvas upon which he worked.”

Located in East Gloucester on Wonson's Cover on the harbor side of the neck of land that forms the eastern boundary of Gloucester Harbor, the hotel was described in a 1904 booklet, as "quaint, rambling, and different" where "friendships are made usually for life."[2] It consisted of eight buildings, each offering commanding views over Wonson’s Cove (fig. 1). At the hotel, Twachtman resided in one of three detached structures rented to artists by the hotel that could also be used as studios (fig. 2). The small building where Twachtman stayed can be seen at the far left in a photograph in the 1904 booklet (fig. 3). Supported on posts, the building was cantilevered over the water, at just sufficient height so it would not be flooded at high tide. The Boston Herald author commented: “The queer square windows, set high in the northeast side of the studio, were always thrown open to the air and sunshine. A big tree directly in front of the entrance guarded the door.”[2] From this description it is apparent that the painting has a personal resonance. At the far left is Twachtman’s cottage/studio, while the prominent elm tree seems a stabilizing and protective sentinel, towering over the white wraith-like collection of buildings, above which similarly ethereal clouds float by.

Twachtman’s view of the scene was from a float for fishing and boating that was joined to the hotel by a long pier that served as a causeway.

Twachtman's son, Alden, reported that his father left this painting unfinished at the time of his death.[3]  However, the conception is fully realized and the exposed canvas ground in the foreground causeway seems deliberate, conveying the diffused light on an overcast day. Twachtman's palette of contrasting values is similar to that in Little Giant (OP.1441) as well as in Cos Cob paintings from this time, such as View from the Holley House, Winter (OP.1514).  

The painting remained in the artist's family after his death and was lent by Martha Twachtman to the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. It was purchased by the Nelson-Atkins in 1933 from Twachtman's son, Alden.

[1]  Booklet advertising The Harbor View Hotel (East Gloucester, Massachusetts,1904), p. 3, Northeastern University Library, Archives and Special Collections, Marjorie Bouve papers, 1892-1972 (bulk 1892-1918) (M89): Box 7.

[2] Boston Herald 1902–III.

[3] Boyle 1979, p. 84.

Selected Literature

From Boyle 1979

Reminiscent of From the Upper Terrace [OP.910], Harbor View Hotel adopts the prominent diagonals the artist began using to construct his compositions at this time. Since the picture is unfinished, it also provides some indication of Twachtman’s working method. Basic to his painting, even before he started, as a long and deep familiarity with his subjects. At Gloucester, the painter Abraham Walkowitz used to see Twachtman studying the countryside, learning “to know every spot, even their moods,” so that when he put brush to canvas he had “lived through it before he began.” As evidenced in Harbor View Hotel, his basic idea was expressed, and often realized, in his initial “blocking in” of colors and shapes, accomplished with the first few strokes of his brush [p. 84].