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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.832
Apples and Grapes
Alternate titles: Apples and Grapes on White Tablecloth; Fruit-piece
ca. 1889
Oil on canvas
16 3/8 x 20 3/8 in. (41.6 x 51.7 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman –
Private collection
Provenance
(Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman–Weir sale, February 7, 1889, lot 82);
Julian Alden Weir;
to his daughter, Mrs. G. Page Ely;
by descent to Anna Ely Smith and Lyn Ely;
to (Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1997);
to (D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York, 1997);
to present collection, 2000.
Exhibitions
1889–I Fifth Avenue Art Galleries
Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir and J. H. Twachtman, February 1–7, 1889, no. 82, as Apples and Grapes, 16 x 20 in.
Literature
Studio 1889
"Paintings and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman and J. Alden Weir." Studio 4 (February 1889), pp. 43–44, as Fruit-piece.
Sun 1889–II
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Apples and Grapes.
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. 539 (catalogue A, no. 8), as Apples and Grapes on White Tablecloth. (Hale concordance).
Gerdts and Burke 1971
Gerdts, William H. and Russell Burke. American Still-Life Painting. New York: Praeger, 1971, p. 211, as Apples and Grapes.
Gerdts 1989
Gerdts, William H. "'Like Dreams of Flowers.'" In In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of J. H. Twachtman, by Lisa N. Peters et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989 Spanierman), pp. 26 ill. in color, 27, as Apples and Grapes.
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. 253; vol. 2, p. 787 ill. in b/w (fig. 260), as Apples and Grapes.
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), p. 82 ill. in b/w, as Apples and Grapes.
Commentary

In his only extant fruit still life, Twachtman created a tabletop image, which suggests the influence in its simplicity of subject and composition of the work of the eighteenth-century French master of still life, Jean Siméon Chardin. However, Twachtman's use of impasto for light and texture, and his forward tilted picture plane, suggests the approach to still life of Édouard Manet or Gustave Courbet. The arrangement is casual but ordered, with the fruit held in place by the taut folds of the tablecloth, one corner of which is turned up and faces the light entering the space.  

The painting was included in the 1889 show and sale of the work of Twachtman–Weir, held at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries (see Exhibitions). There, a reviewer for The Studio (New York) singled it out, observing the rich harmonies in works and noting its influences: “'Fruit-piece' whose vigorous chords recall the pictures of Vollon or Courbet, without resembling either master.”

The painting was probably purchased from the sale by Weir. It was inherited by his daughter Caroline and remained in her family until 1997.