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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.810
Spring Landscape
ca. 1888–91
Pastel on paper
12 x 20 in. (30.5 x 50.8 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia, gift of Ruth Woods Dayton (1967.1.241)
Provenance
(Macbeth, by 1934);
to Arthur S. Dayton, 1934;
to Daywood Art Gallery, Lewisburg, West Virginia, 1948;
to present collection, 1967.
Exhibitions
1934 Macbeth probably
Macbeth Gallery, New York, An Exhibition of Collectors' Examples of American Painting Received for Sale from Private Owners and Estates, October 16–30, 1934, no. 32, as Spring Landscape, pastel, 12 x 20 in.
1942 Macbeth Gallery
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1892–1942, April 1942, no. 34, as Spring Landscape.
1999 High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist, February 26–May 21, 2000. (Peters 1999–I), no. 16, pp. 83, 88 ill. in color, as Spring Landscape. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
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. 584 (catalogue A, no. 826), as Spring Landscape. (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. 245; vol. 2, p. 770 ill. in b/w (fig. 242), as Spring Landscape.
Peters 1999–I
Peters, Lisa N. John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 High Museum of Art), pp. 83, 88 ill. in color, as Spring Landscape.
Commentary

Depicting this subject, an etching, Branchville Fields (E.811), was once attributed to Julian Alden Weir, but his daughter Caroline recognized the error and reattributed it to Twachtman. In fact, the existence of this pastel, featuring Twachtman's signature, and rendered in his pastel style indicates that he created the etching as well. The etching is not in reverse; perhaps Weir helped Twachtman to correct its mirroring.

Nonetheless, there are many notable differences in the two works. The pastel is more tightly cropped, resulting in the greater significance of the farmhouse over the brow of the hill and the tree to its left. Here the large tree that anchors the composition is more upright, accentuating its verticality. Other differences can be attributed to Twachtman’s sensitivity to the unique properties of his media, such as making use of the paper’s tone in the pastel along with the painterly and optical clarity of pastel color.

The work’s provenance indicates that it was the pastel lent in 1942 to Macbeth Gallery's Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition by Arthur S. Dayton (1887–1948). Dayton assembled the Daywood Collection, which is now part of the Huntington Museum of Art, West Virginia.