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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Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
P.911
Wild Flowers
ca. 1890–91
Pastel on paper
19 x 11 1/2 in. (48.3 x 29.2 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of John Gellatly (1929.6.146)
Exhibitions
1913 New York School of Applied Design for Women possibly
New York School of Applied Design for Women, Fifty Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 15–February 15, 1913, no. 48, as Wild Flowers.
1913–I Albright Art Gallery
Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Paintings and Pastels by the Late John H. Twachtman, March 11–April 2, 1913, no. 37, as Wild Flowers, lent by Mrs. J. H. Twachtman.
Literature
Smithsonian Institution 1933
Smithsonian Institution. Catalogue of American and European Paintings in the Gellatly Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1933, p. 18, as Wild Flowers.
Smithsonian Institution 1954
Smithsonian Institution. Catalogue of American and European Paintings in the Gellatly Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1954, p. 16, as Wild Flowers.
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. 587 (catalogue A, no. 943), as Wild Flowers. (Hale concordance).
Spanierman 1989
Spanierman, Ira. "Introduction." 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), p. 6, as Wild Flowers.
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. 267; vol. 2, p. 815 ill. in b/w (fig. 291), as Wild Flowers.
Commentary

This pastel exemplifies Twachtman's use of a toned paper to capture against it wispy and ephemeral effects in nature. It may have been the work lent by Martha Twachtman as Wild Flowers in 1913 to the New York School of Applied Design for Women and the Buffalo Fine Arts Society. A reviewer for the latter described the pastels on view as "lovely colorings," that "could easily be overlooked in a large and heterogeneous collection," as they "make no noisy claim of vagrant attention," but to those who are sensitive to delicacy, "they mutely offer their gift of poetic beauty."[1] The vertical format, unusual in Twachtman's pastels, enhances the feeling of the buoyancy of the blossoms blending into the atmosphere. 

[1] Buffalo Morning Express 1913–II.