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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The Pier, ca. 1889 (OP.839). Verso: OP.839, The Pier.
Verso: OP.839, The Pier.
Related Work
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Keywords
OP.839
The Pier
Alternate title: Harbor Scene
ca. 1889
Oil on canvas
18 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. (47 x 40 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
Private collection
Provenance
(John Levy Galleries, New York);
(Hirschl & Adler);
to (Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, 1987);
to present collection, 1988.
to present collection.
Exhibitions
1994 Columbus Museum of Art
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, Triumph of Color and Light: Ohio Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, February 6–May 15, 1994, p. 160 ill. in b/w, as The Pier.
2006 Columbus Museum of Art (Ohio)
Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, American Impressionism: Variations on a Theme, February 3–June 4, 2006, p. 28 ill. in color, as The Pier.
2008 Muskegon Museum of Art
Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan, Sunlight in a Paintbrush, American Impressionism from Regional Collections, May 1–August 31, 2008, no. 55, p. 12 ill. in color, as The Pier.
Literature
Sotheby Parke Bernet 1974–III
19th- and Early 20th-Century American Paintings and Drawings. Auction catalogue, October 16, 1974. New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1974, lot 73 ill. in b/w, as Harbor Scene.
Peters 1989–I
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman's Greenwich Paintings: Context and Chronology." In John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989–II National Gallery of Art), pp. 15–16 ill. in b/w, as The Pier.
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. 261; vol. 2, p. 800 ill. in b/w (fig. 275), as The Pier.
Commentary

In The Pier Twachtman depicted the same subject as in the etching Yacht Dock (E.809). In the etching, which is in reverse, Twachtman created a gradual diagonal that divides his horizontal composition in two equal parts. Here the pier recedes on a tighter diagonal, creating an upward movement in the picture plane in accord with the vertical format.  

The back of the work has two partially legible old labels, one from a picture gallery in Newark, New Jersey, and another with the address: “559 Fifth Avenue, New York.”