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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.702
Moonlight
Alternate titles: Moonlight in Flanders; Moonlight on the Water; Moonlight, Flanders
ca. 1885
Pastel on paper
7 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (19 x 36.8 cm)
Signed lower right: J.H. Twachtman–
Private collection
Provenance
Godfrey Twachtman, the artist's son, Independence, Missouri;
to (Spanierman, by 1968);
to Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Spencer, 1968;
to (Spanierman, 1990);
to present collection, 1990.
Exhibitions
1886 J. Eastman Chase's Gallery possibly
J. Eastman Chase's Gallery, Boston, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, January 19–30, 1886, no. 19, as Moonlight.
1886 St. Botolph Club possibly
St. Botolph Club, Boston, Spring Exhibition, April 15–May 1, 1886, no. 102, as Moonlight.
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. 93, p. 30 ill., as Moonlight, Flanders, lent by Mr.and Mrs.Godfrey Twachtman.
1968 Spanierman
Ira Spanierman, New York, John Henry Twachtman, 1853–1902: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels, February 3–24, 1968, no. 25, as Moonlight in Flanders.
1990–II Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, The Spencer Collection of American Art, June 13–29, 1990, no. 24, as Moonlight, Flanders.
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. 591 (catalogue A, no. 997), as Moonlight on the Water. (Hale concordance).
Peters 1990–II
Peters, Lisa N. "Entries." In The Spencer Collection of American Art. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990, pp. 50–51 ill. in color, as Moonlight in Flanders.
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. 212; vol. 2, p. 737 ill. in b/w (fig. 206), as Moonlight.
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. 70 ill. in color, 80, as Moonlight.
Commentary

This was possibly the pastel exhibited as Moonlight in Twachtman's January 1886 exhibition at J. Eastman Chase's Gallery in Boston and in the exhibition that May at the St. Botolph Club. Of the show at Chase's, a critic for the Boston Herald commented on the pastel of moonlight, noting that the work was "exquisite, full of the poetic feeling that one is conscious the artist has." 

Working in the manner of Whistler, Twachtman created a spare composition, emphasizing surface unity, but he was also precise in the scene’s space and depth, depicting pilings that recede on a diagonal, the gable of a distant building, the hull of a boat against the far shore, and an inlet of land rising from the water that paralleled the horizon line.

Twachtman may have created the pastel, Ocean View: Spire and Lighthouse (P.703), as a complementary work, portraying the same scene in daylight.