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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Keywords
P.903
Two Children (Marjorie and Elsie)
Alternate titles: Marjorie and Elsie; Marjorie and Elsie (Marjorie et Elsie); Two Children
ca. 1891
Pastel on paper
23 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (59.7 x 36.8 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
Private collection
Provenance
Martha Scudder Twachtman, the artist's wife;
to her daughter Violet Twachtman Baker, until 1964;
by descent in the family to present collection, 1996.
Exhibitions
1891 Wunderlich
H. Wunderlich & Co, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman, March 1891, no. 42, as Marjorie and Elsie.
1891 Durand-Ruel (Paris)
Durand-Ruel Galleries, Paris, Exposition de Peintres et Sculptures d'Artists Américains, June 4–July 13, 1891, no. 158, as Marjorie and Elsie (Marjorie et Elsie).
1892 Yale Art School
Yale Art School, New Haven, Connecticut, Paintings and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman, April 8–15, 1892, as Two Children.
1913 New York School of Applied Design for Women
New York School of Applied Design for Women, Fifty Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 15–February 15, 1913, no. 45, as Marjorie and Elsie, lent by Mrs. J. H. Twachtman.
1966 Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum, John Henry Twachtman: A Retrospective Exhibition, October 7–November 20, 1966. (Exhibition catalogue: Baskett 1966); (Exhibition catalogue: Boyle 1966–I), no. 98, as Two Children, lent by Mr. James Baker, New York.
Literature
American Register 1891
"American Art Exhibition." American Register, June 6, 1891, p. 3, as Marjorie and Elsie.
Art Amateur 1891
"My Notebook." Art Amateur 24 (April 1891), p. 116, as Marjorie and Elsie.
Brooklyn Eagle 1891
"An Exhibition of Mr. Twachtman's Work at Wunderlich's." Brooklyn Eagle, March 22, 1891, p. 9, as Marjorie and Elsie.
New York Times 1891
"Art Notes." New York Times, March 9, 1891, p. 4.
Hoppin 1892
Hoppin, J. M. "They Are Not 'Blotches': 20 of Twachtman’s Pictures." New Haven Register, April 8, 1892, p. 1, as Two Children.
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. 591 (catalogue A, no. 992c), as Marjorie and Elsie. (Hale concordance).
American Art Review 1976
American Art Review 3 (May–June 1976), p. 7 ill. in color, as Two Children.
Hale 1989
Hale, John Douglass. "Twachtman in Greenwich: The Figures." In In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of J. H. Twachtman, by Lisa N. Peters et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1989. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 38–39 ill. in color (fig. 27), as Two Children (Marjorie and Elsie).
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. 268; vol. 2, p. 818 ill. in b/w (fig. 294), as Marjorie and Elsie.
Burns 2020
Burns, Emily C. "Cultural Belatedness, Singularity, and American Impressionism." In America's Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution, Amanda C. Burdan, ed. Memphis, Tenn.: Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Exhibition catalogue (2021–22 Dixon Gallery and Gardens), p. 58, as Marjorie and Elsie.
Commentary

In this pastel, Twachtman depicted his daughters, Marjorie and Elsie standing casually together, although their interlocked stance and large hats suggest that the composition was to some degree planned. While Marjorie gazes straight ahead and wears her hat flat on her head, the younger Elsie seems more aware of her father, turning her head in his direction, the brim of her hat tilted upward.

Twachtman must have felt the work was particularly successful as he showed it a few times. He included it in his solo exhibition at Wunderlich Gallery in March 1891. There it was commended by critics for its subtlety and the artist’s use of his paper for positive space, employing color only to record effects of light. A reviewer for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle stated that the work showed “what can be done with the slightest of means and how far the imagination is willing to go to the aid of the artist, for most of this picture is gray paper.” (The paper has turned brown over the years.) The Art Amateur critic commented: “A sketch of two little girls, ‘Marjorie and Elsie,’ had qualities of style which we should hardly know where else to look for in an American painter.”

In June 1891 the pastel was one of six works Twachtman sent to Paris for inclusion in a large exhibition of works by American painters and sculptors held at Durand-Ruel Galleries. When Twachtman sent the work to his show at the Yale Art School in 1892, J. M. Hoppin wrote in the New Haven Register: "The pastel of two children, a most artistic thing, the hats and heads being faintly suggested in yellow against a greenish background."

The pastel remained in the hands of Twachtman's wife after his death, and she lent it to the two solo exhibitions of his work held in 1913. It belongs today to a descendant of the artist’s daughter Violet, who was born May 23, 1895, a short time after Elsie's death from scarlet fever on January 13, 1895.