John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
OP.1175
The Fountain
Alternate title: Fountain, World's Fair
ca. 1893
Oil on panel
7 x 10 1/2 in. (17.8 x 26.7 cm)
[Inscribed on back of panel: "Sketch by John H. Twachtman [1893] Chicago, Martha S. Twachtman, 1918"]
Private collection
Image: Roz Akin
Exhibitions
1918 Macbeth
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Second Exhibition of Intimate Paintings, December 1918, no. 82, as Fountain, World's Fair, 7 x 10 1/2 in.
1952 Babcock
Babcock Galleries, New York, Important Paintings by American Artists of the 19th and 20th Century, September 29–October 31, 1952, no. 20, as The Fountain.
2006 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter," May 4–June 24, 2006. (Nelson 2006); (Parkes 2006); (Peters 2006–I); (Peters 2006–II); (Peters 2006–III); (Peters 2006–IV), no. 43, as Fountain, World's Fair, shown only in New York. Traveled to: Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, July 13–October 29, 2006.
Literature
American Art Association 1928
Oil Paintings by Representative European and American XVIII and XIX Century Masters. Auction catalogue, February 2–3, 1928. New York: American Art Association, 1928, lot 117, as The Fountain.
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. 550 (catalogue A, no. 180), as The Fountain. (Hale concordance).
Peters 2006–IV
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N. Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 164–65 ill. in color, as Fountain, World's Fair.
Commentary

Fountain, World’s Fair is among the works Twachtman created for an illustrated deluxe history of the Columbian Exposition, a project that never came to fruition. He did not visit the Chicago fair, and based his images on photographs. Here his view seems to be looking west toward the Green Basin, where Frederick MacMonnies’s Columbian Fountain was situated at the western end of the Court of Honor, just in front of Hunt’s administration building. The low, horizontal form in the water is only vaguely like the shape of the grand Barge of State on which the figure of Columbia was seated on a high pedestal. While the railing of the fence around the fountain generally represents the enclosure circling the basin, the decorative planters do not appear in any existing photographs of the site.

In 1918 the artist’s wife inscribed the back of the work, “Sketch by John H. Twachtman [1893] Chicago, Martha S. Twachtman, 1918.” Despite this notation, Twachtman probably made this painting in 1894, when Robinson reported that he was struggling with his assignment for depictions of the fair.

When this painting was sold at the American Art Association in 1928, the catalogue described it as depicting “a green bassin at the World’s Fair, Chicago, with fountains bordered by statuary, marble vases, and centered with a marble group.” It was purchased from this sale by the noted dealer and modernist Albert E. Gallatin (1881–1952).