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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.804
The Dock
ca. 1889
Pastel on paper
13 x 11 in. (33 x 27.9 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York, Gift of Mrs. Douglas Williams in memory of Eva Ingersoll Gattling (2001.002)
Provenance
Given by the artist to The Art Students League, New York, until 1968;
to (Hirschl & Adler);
to (Steven Straw, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1978);
to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Williams;
gift to present collection, 2001.
Literature
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. 586 (catalogue A, no. 930), as The Dock. (Hale concordance).
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. 257; vol. 2, p. 791 ill. in b/w (fig. 265), as The Dock.
Commentary

Although featuring the same scene as in the watercolor Waterside Scene, Newport (WC.804), the two works are very different in the proportions of motifs and relationships in the work's depths.  In softer focus, the pastel is more closely cropped, bringing the coal chute on the shore closer to the anchored sailboat on the water. Here Twachtman omitted the spire of St. Paul's Methodist Church, seen in the background of the watercolor, and softened the line of trees in the distance. 

The work was among a group of pastels that belonged to the Art Students League. Twachtman signed the work prominently and may have given it to the league as an example of his work for his many students.