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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.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
Hersey Egginton, New York;
(Knoedler, by 1970);
to Mr. and Mrs. George Chandler, 1970;
gift to present collection, 2011.
Exhibitions
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. 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 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. 83, 88–89 ill. in color, as Connecticut Landscape.
Peters 2021–II
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.