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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
P.907
Flowers
Alternate titles: Meadow Flowers; Wild Flowers
ca. 1890–91
Pastel on paper
19 x 15 1/4 in. (48.3 x 38.7 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of John Gellatly (1929.6.138)
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 47, as Meadow Flowers);
to Stanford White;
(American Art Association, New York, November 29, 1907, lot 553, as Wild Flowers);
to John Gellatly;
gift to present collection, 1929.
Exhibitions
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. 47, as Meadow Flowers.
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. 106, as Flowers, lent by the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
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. 12, as Flowers. 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
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610: Former Pupils Applaud Sales of Favorite Canvases." New-York Tribune, March 25, 1903, p. 9, as Meadow Flowers.
American Art Galleries 1907
Artistic Property Collected by the Late Stanford White. Auction catalogue, November 29, 1907. New York: American Art Galleries, 1907, lot 553, as Wild Flowers, pastel, 20 x 15 1/2 in.
Smithsonian Institution 1933
Smithsonian Institution. Catalogue of American and European Paintings in the Gellatly Collection. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1933, p. 18, as 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 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, pp. 526 (catalogue G, no. 941), 587 (catalogue A, no. 940), as Flowers. (Hale concordance).
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), p. 20 ill. in color, 21, as 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. 813 ill. in b/w (fig. 289), as Flowers.
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. 72 ill. in color (detail), 83-84 ill. in color, as Flowers.
May 2000–I
May, Stephen. "Expressing the Inexpressible." American Artist (February 2000), p. 27 ill. in color, as Flowers.
Commentary

Included with the title of Meadow Flowers in the artist's 1903 estate sale, the work caught the attention of a New-York Tribune critic, who described it and two other pastels, The Pasture and Wild Flowers (both unidentified), as "beautiful pastels” in which "we get some casual bit of nature captured in its most artless aspect with the most searching sympathy and with wonderful precision, the truth which fills each transcript being made the more charming, as it is made the more vivid, by the ever-present note of style."[1]

The pastel, probably primarily featuring pink phlox, was acquired from the sale by Stanford White (1853–1906), one of its organizers. The architect had been close to Twachtman since the 1870s, when both were members of the Tile Club. In 1907, after White's death, the pastel was purchased from an auction by John Gellatly and it was part of his 1929 gift of art from his collection to the Smithsonian.

[1] New-York Daily Tribune 1903-1.