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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

OP.970
Barnyard
Alternate titles: Feeding the Chickens; The Barnyard
ca. 1896–97
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, Gift of the Fine Arts Collection of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (2002.1.142) (2002.1.142)
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 12, as Feeding the Chickens);
to George D. Pratt;
to (Parke-Bernet, New York, Pratt sale, October 31, 1942, lot 129);
to (Kleeman's Gallery, New York);
to Dr. Chester J. Robertson, Pelham Manor, New York;
to his son, Chester Robertson, Pennsylvania;
to (Susan Powell, New York, 1991);
to The Fine Arts Collection of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut, 1993;
to present collection, 2001.
Exhibitions
1901 Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Works of John H. Twachtman, January 8–27, 1901, no. 26, as Barnyard.
1901–I Durand-Ruel
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, March 4–16, 1901, as Barnyard.
1901–I Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum, Exhibition of Sixty Paintings by Mr. John H. Twachtman, Formerly Resident in Cincinnati, April 12–May 16, 1901, no. 60, as The Barnyard.
1903–I American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, Sale of the Work of the Late John H. Twachtman, exhibition and auction, March 19–24, 1903, no. 12, as Feeding the Chickens.
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 27, as Feeding the Chickens, lent by Mr. George D. Pratt.
1952 Century Association
Century Association, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Abbott Thayer and John H. Twachtman, March 5–May 4, 1952, as Feeding the Chickens, lent by Dr. C. J. Robertson.
1997 Fleischer Museum
Fleischer Museum, Scottsdale, Arizona, East Meets West: American Impressionism, February 9–May 4, 1997, p. 83, as The Barnyard.
2001 National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design, New York, The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore, February 13–May 13, 2001. (Larkin 2001–I), as Barnyard. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 17–September 16, 2001; Denver Art Museum, October 27, 2001–January 20, 2002.
2002 Florence Griswold Museum
Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, The American Artist in Connecticut: The Legacy of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection, July 2, 2002–June 22, 2003, no. 43, as Barnyard.
2009 Florence Griswold Museum
Florence Griswold Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, Call of the Coast: Art Colonies of New England, June 25–November 12, 2009, as Barnyard. Traveled to: Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, October 24, 2009–January 31, 2010.
2022 Greenwich Historical Society
Greenwich Historical Society, Cos Cob, Connecticut, Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman, October 19, 2022–January 22, 2023. (Peters 2021–II), no. 13, as Barnyard.
Literature
New-York Commercial Advertiser 1901–I
"The Art-World. Mr. Twachtman at Durand Ruel's." New-York Commercial Advertiser, March 5, 1901, p. 4, as Barnyard.
Chicago American 1901–II
Chicago American, January 7, 1901, p. 106, as Barnyard.
New-York Tribune 1901–II
"Art Exhibitions: Paintings by Mr. Twachtman." New-York Tribune, March 6, 1901, p. 6, as Barnyard.
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Feeding the Chickens.
New York Times 1903–III
"Twachtman Picture Sale." New York Times, March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Feeding the Chickens.
Parke-Bernet 1942–II
"Pratt estate sale." In Parke-Bernet. New York: New York, October 31, 1942, no. 129, as Barnyard.
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. 540 (catalogue A, no. 46), as Barnyard. (Hale concordance).
Antiques 1990–II
Antiques 137 (February 1990), p. 5, as Barnyard.
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. 379; vol. 2, p. 922 ill. in b/w (fig. 408), as Barnyard.
Larkin 1996
Larkin, Susan G. "'A Regular Rendezvous for Impressionists:' The Cos Cob Art Colony 1882–1920." Ph.D. dissertation, 1996. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microforms, 1996, pp. xxvii, 224–28, 454 ill. in b/w (8.9), as Barnyard.
Larkin 1998
Larkin, Susan G. "On Home Ground: John Twachtman and the Familiar Landscape." American Art Journal 29 (1998), pp. 64, 66 ill. in b/w, 67, 69, 71, as Barnyard.
Larkin 2001–I
Larkin, Susan G. The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore. New York: National Academy of Design in association with Yale University, 2001. Exhibition catalogue (2001 National Academy of Design), pp. 141–43, as Barnyard.
Larkin 2001–II
Larkin, Susan G. "The Cos Cob Art Colony." American Art Review 13 (February 2001), p. 101 ill. in color, as Barnyard.
Florence Griswold Museum 2002
Andersen, Jeffrey W. and Hildegard Cummings. The American Artist in Connecticut: The Legacy of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection. Old Lyme, Conn.: Florence Griswold Museum, 2002. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 100–101 ill. in color, as Barnyard.
Connors 2021
Connors, Thomas. "Connecticut Idyll: How the American Impressionist John Henry Twachtman Made Fairfield County His Own Personal Giverny." Antiques 178 (November 2021), p. 96 ill. in color (fig. 8), as Barnyard.
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), pp. 80 ill. in color (fig. 65), 81, 105 ill. in color, as Barnyard.
Peters 2021–III
Peters, Lisa N. "The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman." American Art Review 33 (Fall 2021), pp. 73 ill. in color, 77, as Barnyard.
Johnson 2022
Johnson, Kate Eagen. "Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman." Antiques and the Arts Weekly (November 1, 2022), ill. in color, as Barnyard.
Nord 2023
Nord, Kristin. "Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman." Art New England (January–February 2023), p. 55 ill. in color, as Barnyard.
Commentary

In Chicago at the time of his January of 1901 exhibition at the Art Institute, Twachtman indicated to a reporter for the Chicago American that this painting was among his favorites, having been painted by himself and his son, J. Alden Twachtman (see Selected literature).

In the scene, he focused on a chicken coop probably erected in the late 1890s, along the stone wall that he constructed behind his home. Diverging from his usual distant perspectives, he captured an informal moment of everyday life that evoked the mother and child theme, conveying his wife’s role as both protective and enabling of her children’s independence. He conveyed this by depicting her in a brown dress silhouetted against the white shed of the chicken coop, under a halolike vine trellis, while allowing her daughter, Violet to care for the chickens by herself. Doves flutter down and gently alight, as if conferring holiness on the scene.

Twachtman included Barnyard in three 1901 solo exhibitions (Chicago, New York, and Cincinnati). The work was sold from his estate sale in 1903 as Feeding the Chickens. Its buyer was George D. Pratt (1868–1935), a well-known wealthy railroad magnate, philanthropist, and conservationist. The painting was included in the sale of Pratt’s estate at Parke-Bernet in 1942.

Selected Literature

From Chicago American 1901–II

Mr. Twachtman, in speaking of the various works he has created, and which were shown said: “The scenes on my farm at Greenwich, Conn., are perhaps my favorites, although an artist should not judge his own works—one of these painted by my son, J. Alden Twachtman, and myself—the one representing a little child feeding chickens—is an especial favorite of mine. Another is the Yellowstone Falls, which I might call the best of all my exhibits.”
     The picture of the child feeding chickens is that of the artist's little girl, and as his son, a winner of the Yale Winchester prize, collaborated with him in this, there is a sentiment which makes it dear to the artist.

From Parke-Bernet 1942

Sunlit scene with a small child in a white frock feeding chickens and white pigeons surrounding her, the figure of a woman appearing before a white shed in the background; beyond them green foliage of trees on a sunlight hillside.

From Larkin 1996

The differences between the suburban and rural styles of poultry-keeping are revealed in a comparison of Twachtman’s Barnyard and fellow art-colonist David B. Walkley’s Feeding the Chickens (fig. 8.10) [ca. 1900, oil on canvas, 17 x 28 inches, private collection]. Most of Twachtman’s hens are Rhode Island Reds, which were popular for both their plentiful brown eggs and plump flesh, but a few Black Minorcas provide visual contrast. The rooster to the child’s left appears to be a Buff Japanese, a breed prized for its showy plumage. The white doves fluttering through the air and the fantail pigeons strutting on the ground were also ornamental. Though they were occasionally used for meat, the birds were valued primarily for their beauty and the soothing murmur of their soft cooing. In Walkley’s painting, on the other hand, all of the fowl are the same breed, selected for practical considerations far removed from the aesthetic appeal of Twachtman’s ornamental varieties. They range free, scratching for insects all over the working farm, while Twachtman’s are penned to prevent them from harming the ornamental plantings. Twachtman’s hen house is neatly white-washed; Walkley’s barn is sided with unpainted boards. Twachtman’s suburban image is distinguished from Walkley’s rural one largely by its concern with ornament. . . . [pp. 225–26]
          Twachtman’s painting differs from his colleagues’ in the treatment of mother and child. In Walkley’s oil, the two share the task of feeding the chickens. In Twachtman’s, the mother stays in the background, allowing the child to experience its emerging autonomy. The little girl, scarcely taller than the roosters, learns to assume responsibility for living creatures; she nurtures the poultry as her mother nurtures her. This scenario is not realistic, as anyone who has fed a flock of hungry chickens can attest—a child so small would almost certainly have endured a few painful pecks. Twachtman’s aim is not to document a routine chore, however, but to use the theme of the poultry yard to celebrate the family.
          A sense of sacredness pervades Barnyard. The mother, whose dress links her coloristically to the earth, is framed in the trellised gate like a saint in a cathedral niche. The dove hovering over her head inevitably suggests the Holy Spirit to anyone familiar with European art, as was Twachtman. Light, the symbol of grace in religious paintings, touches the woman, the hen house, and the wings of the doves, with the strongest beam spotlight in the child, like the infant in Nativity scenes. The shed and poultry recall the stable and animals traditionally associated with Christ’s birth. Twachtman’s use of religious paintings is not overt, like that of his contemporary George de Forest Brush. Instead, perhaps unconsciously, he drew on a body of conventions in European art to give a rustic image of family life an aura of benediction [pp. 227–28].