loading loading
John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Keywords
OP.607
Windmills, Dordrecht
Alternate titles: Wind Mill—Holland; Windmills
ca. 1881
Oil on panel
14 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (36.8 x 52.1 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman.
Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Museum Purchase (1977.014)
Image: Christopher Scarborough
Provenance
Probably (American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 1, as The Wind Mill—Holland, 14 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.);
to Charles Lang Freer;
(Milch);
to Mrs. Stephen C. Millett, ca. 1920s;
to her son, Stephen C. Millett, Jr., Washington, D.C.;
present collection, 1973.
Exhibitions
1903–I American Art Galleries probably
American Art Galleries, New York, Sale of the Work of the Late John H. Twachtman, exhibition and auction, March 19–24, 1903, no. 1, as Wind Mill—Holland, oil, 14 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.
1968 Spanierman
Ira Spanierman, New York, John Henry Twachtman, 1853–1902: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels, February 3–24, 1968, no. 4, p. 10 ill. in b/w, as Windmills, Dordrecht, lent by Mr. and Mrs. Harold Milch.
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. 5, as Windmills, Dordrecht. 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 Tribune 1903–II probably
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610: Former Pupils Applaud Sales of Favorite Canvases." New-York Tribune, March 25, 1903, p. 9, as Wind Mill—Holland.
Sun 1903–II probably
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Wind Mill—Holland.
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. 510 (catalogue G, no. 715), as Wind Mill—Holland. (Hale concordance).
Boyle 1979
Boyle, Richard. John Twachtman. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1979, pp. 28–29 ill. in color, as Windmills, Dordrecht.
Frye Art Museum Collection Catalogue 1989
The Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum: A Handbook of the Collection. Seattle: Charles and Emma Frye Art Museum, 1989, pp. 114–15 ill. in b/w, as Windmills, Dordrecht.
Pyne 1989
Pyne, Kathleen A. "John Twachtman and the Therapeutic Landscape." 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. 51, as Windmills, Dordrecht.
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. 144–45; vol. 2, p. 661 ill. in b/w (fig. 116), as Windmills, Dordrecht.
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. 49–50, 52 ill. in color, as Windmills, Dordrecht.
Commentary

This was presumably The Wind Mill—Holland, a work purchased from the artist’s 1903 estate sale by Charles Lang Freer—its dimensions match those in the catalogue. Twachtman rendered the scene from the water, looking up at the windmills that stand out across the breadth of the land due to its flatness. On the left, he took notice of how a patch of grass at the water's edge obscured much of the roof of a building visible just over the brow of a distant hill. 

Selected Literature

From Peters 1995

In Windmills, Dordrecht, Twachtman’s Munich manner is still present in the vigor of his brushwork, but his strokes are more relaxed, and, instead of browns, blacks, and white accents, he emphasizes warm tones of light blue, pale green, and peach (fig. 116).