loading loading
John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Related Work
loading
Keywords
OP.983
The White Bridge
Alternate title: White Bridge, Spring
ca. 1898–1900
Oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 25 1/8 in. (76.8 x 63.8 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman
Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Gift of Emily Sibley Watson (16.9)
Provenance
Mrs. John E. (Gertrude) Cowdin, by 1907;
to (American Art Association, New York, Cowdin sale, May 9–11, 1916, lot 168);
through (Macbeth);
to Mrs. James (Emily) Sibley Watson, Rochester, New York;
gift to present collection, 1916.
Exhibitions
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 5, as White Bridge, Spring, lent by Mrs. John E. Cowdin.
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. 56, as The White Bridge, lent by the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York.
1977 Wildenstein Galleries
Wildenstein Galleries, New York, Treasures from Rochester: Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, April 14–May 28, 1977, p. 70 ill. in b/w, as The White Bridge.
1983 Nassau County Museum of Fine Art
Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn, New York, William Cullen Bryant, The Weirs and American Impressionism, April 24–July 31, 1983, no. 8, p. 35 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
1986 Cummer Gallery of Art
Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, Florida, Artistic Transitions: From the Academy to Impressionism in American Art, October 24, 1986–January 11, 1987, no. 46, p. 41 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
1989–II National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, October 15, 1989–January 28, 1990. (Exhibition catalogue: Chotner 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Pyne 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Peters 1989–I), no. 20, p. 108 ill. in color, as The White Bridge. Traveled to: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, March 18–May 20, 1990.
1990 Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation
Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, Villa Favorita, Lugano-Castagnola, Switzerland, Masterworks of American Impressionism, July 22–October 28, 1990, no. 31, as The White Bridge.
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. 45, as The White Bridge. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
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 The White Bridge, shown only in New York and Denver. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 17–September 16, 2001; Denver Art Museum, October 27, 2001–January 20, 2002.
2014–15 Terra Foundation for American Art
Terra Foundation for American Art, Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France, American Impressionism: A New Vision, 1880–1900, March 28–June 29, 2014. (Bourguignon 2014), as The White Bridge. Traveled to: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, July 19–October 19, 2014; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015.
2016 Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, JapanAmerica: Points of Contact, 1876–1970, August 27–December 18, 2016, as The White Bridge. Traveled to: Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, February 12–May 27, 2017.
Literature
American Art Association 1916
Valuable Ancient and Modern Paintings. Auction catalogue. May 9–11, 1916. New York: American Art Association, 1916, lot 168 ill. in b/w, as The White Bridge.
New York Times 1916
"Twachtman Art Gets Highest Bid." New York Times, May 10, 1916, p. 13, as The White Bridge.
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. 1, p. 308 ill. in b/w; vol. 2, p. 543–44 (catalogue A, no. 90), as The White Bridge. (Hale concordance).
Rochester Memorial Art Gallery 1961
Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Handbook. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester, 1961, p. 108 ill. in b/w, as The White Bridge.
Boyle 1979
Boyle, Richard. John Twachtman. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1979, Cover, pp. 40, 78–79 ill. in color, 80, as The White Bridge.
Gerdts 1984
Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. New York: Abbeville, 1984, p. 158 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Morgan 1988
Morgan, Joan B. In Memorial Art Gallery: An Introduction to the Collection, ed, Susan Dodge Peters. Rochester, N.Y.: Memorial Art Gallery in association with Hudson Hills, 1988, pp. 192–93 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Ledes 1989
Ledes, Allison Eckardt. "Current and Coming: The Mature Years of John Henry Twachtman." Antiques 136 (November 1989), p. 942 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
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), p. 40 ill. in b/w, as The White Bridge.
May 1990
May, Stephen. "Twachtman at the Wadsworth Atheneum." Art Times (March 1990), p. 9, as The White Bridge.
McNally 1990
McNally, Owen. "Idyll Pleasures." Hartford Courant, March 18, 1990, p. G1 ill. in b/w, as The White Bridge.
Schwendenwien 1990
Schwendenwien, Jude. "Twachtman: A Painter of Landscapes." Hartford Courant, May 6, 1990, p. G6 ill. in b/w, as The White Bridge.
Gerdts 1990–II
Gerdts, William H. Masterworks of American Impressionism. Lugano-Castagnola, Switzerland: Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 84–85 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Hiesinger 1991
Hiesinger, Ulrich. Impressionism in America: The Ten American Painters. Munich: Prestel, 1991, p. 173 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Walther 1992
Walther, Ingo F. Malerei des Impressionismus, 1860–1920. Bonn, Germany: Benedikt Taschen, 1992, ill. in color (fig. 624), as The White Bridge.
Peters 1994
Peters, Lisa N. "The Suburban Aesthetic: John Twachtman's White Bridge." Porticus: Journal of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester 17–19 (1994–96), pp. 50 ill. in b/w, 51–55, as The White Bridge.
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. 388; vol. 2, p. 938 ill. in b/w (fig. 424), as The White Bridge.
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. xxviii, 232, 235, 464 ill. in b/w (8.19), as The White Bridge.
Larkin 1998
Larkin, Susan G. "On Home Ground: John Twachtman and the Familiar Landscape." American Art Journal 29 (1998), pp. 71, 73–74, ill. in b/w, 76–77, 80, 83, as The White Bridge.
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. 2 ill. in color (detail), 135, 137 ill. in color, 140, as The White Bridge.
May 2000–I
May, Stephen. "Expressing the Inexpressible." American Artist (February 2000), p. 21 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Memorial Art Gallery, 2001
"A Sin of Commission (2000)." In Voices in the Gallery: Writers on Art. Rochester, N.Y.: Memorial Art Gallery, 2001, pp. 168 ill. in color, 169–71, as The White Bridge.
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. 194–96 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Larkin 2006
Larkin, Susan G. "John Henry Twachtman: The White Bridge." In Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, ed, Marjorie B. Searl. Rochester, N.Y.: Memorial Art Gallery, 2006, pp. 132 ill. in color, 133–34 ill. in color, detail, 135 ill. in color (detail), as The White Bridge.
Bourguignon 2014
Bourguignon, Katherine M. American Impressionism: A New Vision 1880–1900. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014. Exhibition catalogue (2014–15 Terra Foundation for American Art), p. 131 ill. in color, as The White Bridge.
Green 2016
Green, Nancy E. Japan/America: Points of Contact, 1876–1970. Ithaca, N.Y.: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, 2016. Exhibition catalogue, p. 217 ill. in color (fig. 102), as The White Bridge.
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. 85, 87 ill. in color (fig. 72), as The White Bridge.
Commentary

Twachtman constructed this version of his white bridge over Horseneck Brook in a simpler, more functional form than it appears in OP.980, OP.981, and OP.982. Here and in a close up view, Bridge in the Woods (OP.984), it is low to the water and conforms less to Japanese prints than to the low-spanning bridges in views of rustic countryside that are depicted in Chinese ink-wash drawings of the Northern Song period, such as those of Li-Ching. On a low angle over the brook, this bridge, like OP. 981 and OP.982, had a canopy at the center of the span, but with a curved form rather than a gable. In this version, the bridge looks sturdy enough for the artist’s children to cross and use to launch the small rowboat shown here. The bridge, without its canopy is probably also the same one featured in Summer Afternoon (OP.985). 

The bridge is probably the third constructed by the artist. Rendered from a closer vantage point, with more vibrant color than his other White Bridge paintings, and broader, more painterly brushwork suggestive of the alla prima method of Twachtman's Gloucester work in his last three summers, this painting probably dates from near the end of Twachtman's Greenwich years, 1898–1900.  

This painting was lent as White Bridge, Spring to the exhibition of Twachtman’s work held at the Lotos Club in 1907 by Mrs. John E. (Gertrude Cheever) Cowdin (1863–1908), the wife of a silk merchant and polo player. Mrs. Cowdin, who also owned Twachtman’s My Summer Studio (OP.948), died in the following year and the painting was sold in 1916, as part of her estate, at the American Art Association. It passed through Macbeth Gallery to Emily Sibley Watson (1855–1945), of Rochester, New York, the wife of a banker and philanthropist, who founded the Memorial Art Gallery in memory of her son. Watson donated it within the year to the Memorial Art Gallery.

Selected Literature

From Larkin 2006

Twachtman’s inspiration may have been the myriad footbridges over the canals of Venice, where he spent a total of at least eighteen months in the 1870s and 1880s. Although the more elaborate Venetian bridges, like the Ponte di Rialto, are curved on the underside, their pedestrian surface exhibits an angular three-part construction similar to Twachtman’s homemade footbridge.
          But if Venice informed Twachtman’s design, it was only one source among several. . . . Similarly, the footbridge’s ancestry is American in its diversity, evoking at once the Chinese-Chippendale embellishments of the Colonial Revival, the high-arched bridges of Japanese gardens, and the crisp whitewash of New England picket fences.
          The white paint links Twachtman to the taste of his time, instead of leaving the wood bare, with the bark unpeeled, as the influential landscape designer Alexander Jackson Downing advised in the mid-nineteenth century, or coating it with red lacquer, as Asian garden designers preferred, he painted it white, matching his house. “He was especially fond of white in sunlight and left many impressions of white houses among green trees,” one critic observed after viewing Twachtman’s estate sale.” [Roof 1903, p. 244] The white bridge enlivened the brookside landscape, making the delicate structure a worthy challenge to a painter who enjoyed exploring the chromatic subtleties of snow.