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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
WC.802
Pier Near Newport
Alternate title: Pier Near Newport, R.I.
ca. 1889
Watercolor and gouache on panel
15 x 19 in. (38.1 x 48.3 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Fayez Sarofim Collection
Provenance
(Fred Price, New York, 1920s);
to Hoyt Landon Warner, 1920s–1943, and descendants, until 1982;
to (Hirschl & Adler, 1982);
to (Meredith Long & Company, Houston, 1983);
to present collection, 1983.
Exhibitions
1893 American Water Color Society probably
National Academy of Design, New York, Twenty-Sixth Annual Exhibition, American Water Color Society and New York Etching Club, January 30–February 25, 1893, no. 107, as Pier Near Newport.
1893 World's Columbian Exposition probably
Department of Fine Arts, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, May 1–October 30, 1893, no. 1469, as Pier Near Newport, R.I. watercolor.
1982 Hirschl & Adler Galleries
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, Lines of Different Character: American Art from 1727–1947, November 13, 1982–January 8, 1983, no. 49, p. 65 ill. in color, as Pier Near Newport.
Literature
New York Times 1893–III probably
"The Water-Color Society." New York Times, February 7, 1893, p. 5 l, as Pier Near Newport.
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. 519 (catalogue A, no. 821), as Pier Near Newport. (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. 790 ill. in b/w (fig. 264), as Pier Near Newport.
Commentary

When this watercolor was included in the 1893 American Water Color Society annual, a reviewer in the New York Times identified its site as “probably from the Jamestown side of the Narragansett Channel.”[1] The scene may depict the same pier as in the etching Yacht Dock (E.809), where it is on a reverse angle in a more expansive view, as well as in The Pier (OP.839), where it recedes on a sharper incline in a vertical arrangement. These works represent a cluster, in which Twachtman explored the same view in different mediums for very different results.

Another concurrence can be seen between this image and a pastel, Newport Harbor (P.805). Both feature boats seen from the stern end on foreshortened diagonals. Here the line of the boat sits higher in the water, but is lower in the work in keeping with a lower and more distant horizon line. 

Twchtman used his media in this instance in a method similar to that in his pastels, applying gouache with broken strokes in the water and a smoother, more dense application in the sky. He rendered the boats with precise draftsmanship and made use of the warm brown tone of his paper, leaving it exposed in the pier, while it is present as an undertone in the sky. His application method, devoid of wet washes and blurred edges, was recognized by the New York Times critic, who remarked that “‘Pier near Newport,’ . . . is wrought in a drier fashion [than After the Shower, an unidentified work].” The critic commented that the scene “represents Newport waters . . . on a still, hazy day. In the foreground are coasting craft lying at a pier that runs out into the bay. Mr. Twachtman makes a very distinguished appearance with these pictures, none of which are of great size or much elaborated.” The work’s price in the exhibition catalogue was $125.

Twachtman again displayed this work at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. 

[1] New York Times 1893–I.