John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
Catalogue Entry
P.821
Connecticut Landscape
ca. 1888–95
Pastel on paper
16 3/4 x 20 3/4 in. (42.5 x 52.7 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Provenance
Exhibitions
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist, February 26–May 21, 2000. (Peters 1999–I), no. 17, as Connecticut Landscape. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
Literature
Peters, Lisa N. John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 High Museum of Art), pp. 83, 88–89 ill. in color, as Connecticut Landscape.
Peters, Lisa N. Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman. Cos Cob, Conn.: Greenwich Historical Society, 2021. Exhibition catalogue (2022 Greenwich Historical Society), p. 11 ill. in color (fig. 8), as Connecticut Landscape.
Commentary
In 1899, Twachtman advised his students: "If you want to give the effect of very flat country, place the horizon line below the middle of the canvas. Paint it from a level. Looking down on it destroys the effect you wish to produce."[1] He followed his own advice in this pastel, where the rounded edge of the expansive meadow concurs with the earth's curvature and the sky looms large overhead. A farm house is tucked between trees at the right, its roof higher in the design than the far-off hills. In the scene are old stone walls that are remnants of a time when the land was farmed, whereas now it has become overgrown with patchy grass and wildflowers.
[1] Art Interchange 1899–IV, p. 57.