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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.1001
The Frozen Brook
ca. 1892
Oil on canvas
30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman
Private collection
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 41);
to Dr. Alexander Crombie Humphreys;
to (American Art Association, New York, Humphreys sale, February 14–15, 1917);
to (Macbeth);
to Albert E. McVitty, Princeton, New Jersey, 1918;
to (Spanierman, 1969);
to Ralph and Florence Spencer, New York, 1969;
to (Spanierman, 1990);
to present collection, 1995.
Exhibitions
1893 American Art Galleries probably
American Art Galleries, New York, Paintings, Pastels, and Etchings by J. Alden Weir, J. H. Twachtman, Claude Monet, and Paul Albert Besnard, by May 4–mid-November 1893, no. 2, as The Frozen Brook.
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. 41, as The Frozen Brook.
1905 Albright Art Gallery
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Inaugural Exhibition, May 31–July 1, 1905, no. 223, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys, New York.
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 22, as The Frozen Brook, loaned by Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys.
1907–II Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of American Paintings from the Collection of Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys, March 30, 1907 and following days, no. 72, as The Frozen Brook.
1910 Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by French and American Luminists, December 17, 1910 and following days, no. 39, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys.
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. 33, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Alexander C. Humphreys, Esq.
1913 Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys, October–November 1913, no. 69, as The Frozen Brook.
1914 Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Exhibition of Paintings by Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys of New York City, February 21–June 23, 1914, no. 141, between pp. 20–21 ill. in b/w, as The Frozen Brook.
1918 Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts, Fourth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists, April 9–30, 1918, no. 115, as The Frozen Brook.
1919–I Vose
Vose Gallery, Boston, Exhibition of Selected Works by John H. Twachtman, January 27–February 15, 1919, no. 5, as The Frozen Brook.
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. 70, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Albert E. McVitty, Princeton, N.J.
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. 7, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Albert E. McVitty, Esq.
1972 Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century American Art from Private Collections, June 27–September 11, 1972, no. 69, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Spencer.
1976 Coe Kerr Gallery
Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, Masters of American Impressionism, March 9–April 3, 1976, no. 16, as The Frozen Brook.
1978 ACA Galleries
ACA Galleries, New York, Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Masterpieces in New York Private Collections, September 26–October 14, 1978, no. 47, pp. 90–91 ill. in color, as The Frozen Brook, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Spencer.
1989–II National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, October 15, 1989–January 28, 1990. (Exhibition catalogue: Chotner 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Pyne 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Peters 1989–I), no. 7, p. 95 ill. in color, as The Frozen Brook. Traveled to: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, March 18–May 20, 1990.
1990–II Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, The Spencer Collection of American Art, June 13–29, 1990, no. 26, as The Frozen Brook.
1993 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, The Intimate Landscapes of John H. Twachtman (1853–1902), May 5–July 2, 1993, as The Frozen Brook.
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. 31, as The Frozen Brook. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
Literature
Sun 1903–I
"The Twachtman Exhibition." Sun (New York), March 21, 1903, p. 8, as The Frozen Brook.
New York Times 1903–II
"Twachtman's Paintings: Memorial Exhibition and Sale of Works by John H. Twachtman." New York Times, March 22, 1903, p. 9, as The Frozen Brook.
New-York Tribune 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610: Former Pupils Applaud Sales of Favorite Canvases." New-York Tribune, March 25, 1903, p. 9, as The Frozen Brook.
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as The Frozen Brook.
New York Times 1903–III
"Twachtman Picture Sale." New York Times, March 25, 1903, p. 5, as The Frozen Brook.
American Art Association 1917–I
The Very Notable Collection Formed by Dr. Alexander C. Humphreys, President of the Stevens Institute. Auction catalogue, February 14–15, 1917. New York: American Art Association, 1917, lot 132, as The Frozen Brook.
de Kay 1918
de Kay, Charles. "John H. Twachtman." Arts and Decoration 9 (June 1918), pp. 73, 75 ill. in b/w, as The Frozen Brook.
Tucker 1931
Tucker, Allen. John H. Twachtman. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1931, pp. 22–23 ill. in b/w (Collection of Mr. Albert E. McVitty, Bryn Mawr, Pa.), as The Frozen Brook.
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. 550 (catalogue A, no. 194), as The Frozen Brook. (Hale concordance).
Perlman 1990
Perlman, Bennard. "National Gallery Exhibit Shows Two Sides of the Same Subject." Baltimore Daily Record, January 17, 1990, p. A32, as The Frozen Brook.
Peters 1990–II
Peters, Lisa N. "Entries." In The Spencer Collection of American Art. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990, pp. 54–55 ill. in b/w, as The Frozen Brook.
Prebus 1994
Prebus, Cynthia H. "Transitions in American Art and Criticism: The Formative Years of Early American Modernism, 1895–1905," Ph.D dissertation. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers, The State University, 1994, pp. 260, 263, 265, 267, 474 ill. in b/w, 475, as The Frozen Brook.
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, pp. 344, 350, 359; vol. 2, p. 874 ill. in b/w (fig. 360), as The Frozen Brook.
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. 92 ill. in color (detail), 114, 119 ill. in color, as The Frozen Brook.
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), p. 60 ill. in color (fig. 53), as The Frozen Brook.
Commentary

In this Greenwich scene, looking north along Horseneck Brook toward Horseneck Falls, a gradual movement occurs through the serpentine lines of the thawing brook and the rhythmically spaced trees that recede toward a solitary house that blends into its snow-covered surroundings. The house may have belonged to Samuel Merritt, an African American stone mason who lived on a small plot of land to the west of Twachtman’s property. The home is probably the same as that in End of Winter (OP.1004) and Spring Freshet (OP.1135), where it can be seen from a closer vantage point.

The painting was possibly Winter, a painting Twachtman exhibited in his 1891 solo exhibition at Wunderlich. A critic's description of the work for the Studio fits it extremely well: "Here the painter leads you to some quiet spot—you see the damp melting snow—the bare wet trees, and the swiftly flowing brook, you feel that the air is laden with moisture—it is one of those gray, damp days. You are not restricted to the narrow limits of the canvas, you feel as though you could follow the brook’s course farther down, and see way into the distance. This is the charm about these pictures—they are not placed before you as facts; they are awakeners of certain trains of thought; you feel even more than you see."[1]

Frozen Brook was probably exhibited with its current title at the American Art Galleries in 1893, but none of the reviews of the show described it. Included in the artist’s estate sale in 1903, the painting was purchased by Dr. Alexander Crombie Humphreys (1851–1927), a Scottish-born nationally known water-gas engineer who was president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, and an avid collector of American paintings. The work was included in the large sale of works from Humphreys’s collection in 1917. Later it was owned by the Princeton, New Jersey, art collector Albert McVitty (1876–1948).

[1] Studio 1891–II.