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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
OP.806
Snowbound
Alternate titles: Gloucester; Gloucester Harbor, Winter; Snow Bound
ca. 1888
Oil on canvas
12 x 24 in. (30.5 x 61 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman
Location unknown
Provenance
(Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman–Weir sale, February 7, 1889, lot. 30 (as Snow Bound, 12 x 24 in.);
Thomas L. Mausen Jr.;
Peyton Boswell, until 1919;
(Vose);
to Mrs. Florence M. Combs, 1919;
Francis McCaulley, until 1940;
(Vose);
to (Plaza Auction, New York, March 7, 1941, lot 62);
(Spanierman, by 1971);
to (Meredith Long & Company, Houston, 1971–74);
to (Davis and Long Company, New York, 1974).
Exhibitions
1889–I Fifth Avenue Art Galleries probably
Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir and J. H. Twachtman, February 1–7, 1889, no. 30, as Snow Bound, 13 x 24 in.
1974 Davis & Long Company
Davis & Long Company, New York, American Painting, October 15–November 2, 1974, no. 33, ill. in b/w, as Gloucester.
Literature
New York Herald 1889 probably
"Fair Prices for Pictures: The Twachtman-Weir Sale at the Fifth Avenue Galleries." New York Herald, February 8, 1889, p. 6, as Snowbound.
Studio 1889 probably
"Paintings and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman and J. Alden Weir." Studio 4 (February 1889), p. 43, as Snow Bound.
Art Amateur 1889–I probably
"The Weir and Twachtman Exhibition." Art Amateur 20 (March 1889), p. 75, as Snow Bound.
Critic 1889–I probably
"Paintings by Weir and Twachtman." Critic new series 11 (February 9, 1889), p. 69, as Snow Bound.
New York Times 1889–I probably
"The Weir–Twachtman Paintings." New York Times, February 3, 1889, p. 13, as Snow Bound.
Sun 1889–I probably
"Current Art Exhibitions." Sun (New York), February 4, 1889, p. 4, as Snowbound.
New York Times 1889–II probably
"A Spirited Picture Sale." New York Times, February 8, 1889, p. 5, as Snow Bound.
New-York Tribune 1889–II probably
"Pictures by Messrs. Weir and Twachtman." New-York Tribune, February 7, 1889, p. 7, as Snowbound.
Sun 1889–II probably
"Weir and Twachtman Pictures." Sun (New York), February 8, 1889, p. 3, as Snow Bound.
Plaza 1941
Auction catalogue, March 7, 1941. New York: Plaza Auction, 1941, lot 62 ill. in b/w, as Gloucester Harbor, Winter.
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. 454 (catalogue G, no. 237), 491–92 (catalogue G, no. 555, as Snow Bound), as Gloucester Harbor, Winter. (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. 248; vol. 2, p. 775 ill. in b/w (fig. 247), as Gloucester Harbor, Winter.
Commentary

This painting was probably the work included in the 1889 sale of the work of Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir at Fifth Avenue Art Galleries as Snow Bound, a work listed in the catalogue with the dimensions of 12 x 24 inches. Not only do the work's measurements match those in the catalogue, but several reviews described it well—for example, the reviewer in the New York Times referred to it as a view of a "bark laid up at a pier, the hull, the string pieces, and timbers of the dock showing warm between the masses of white. Atmosphere full of damp and . . . city smoke."

The Art Amateur commented that Snow Bound was an image of “vessels laid up beside the wharf in an ice-covered river,” and the Critic observed that Twachtman was “very successful with winter subjects,” noting that one of the artist's two best pictures on view represented midwinter weather, the painting entitled Snow Bound, featuring “vessels laid up in the icy river.”

This painting was titled Gloucester in the 1970s. However, there is no evidence that Twachtman visited Gloucester until the summer of 1900. The painting may depict the same location as the similar Connecticut Shore, Winter (OP.807), but the site of both works has yet to be verified.

It is clear that Twachtman used the title of Snow Bound for images other than those he created of his Greenwich home in the snow in the 1890s.