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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
OP.982
The Little Bridge
Alternate title: Little White Bridge
ca. 1897
Oil on canvas
25 x 25 in. (63.5 x 63.5 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman
Georgia Museum of Art of the University of Georgia, Athens, Eva Underhill Holbrook Memorial Collection of American Art, Gift of Alfred H. Holbrook, 1945 (1945.90)
Provenance
Martha Twachtman, the artist's wife, Greenwich, Connecticut;
to William T. Evans, New York, by 1908;
to (American Art Association, New York, Evans sale, March 31–April 1–2, 1913, lot 52);
(Macbeth, by 1928);
to Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts;
(Macbeth, 1931, 1938, 1942);
present collection, 1945.
Exhibitions
1901–I Cincinnati Art Museum probably
Cincinnati Art Museum, Exhibition of Sixty Paintings by Mr. John H. Twachtman, Formerly Resident in Cincinnati, April 12–May 16, 1901, no. 23, as Little White Bridge.
1905 Knoedler
M. Knoedler & Co, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Pictures by John H. Twachtman, January 2–11, 1905, no. 10, as The Little Bridge.
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 32, as The Little Bridge, loaned by Mrs. John H. Twachtman.
1908 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, November 1908, no. 135, as The Little Bridge.
1911 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, February 1911, no. 146, as The Little Bridge.
1913 American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, The Private Collection of American Paintings Formed by the Widely Known Amateur William T. Evans, Esq. of New York, March 31–April 2, 1913, no. 52, as The Little Bridge.
1913 Memorial Art Gallery
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York, Inaugural Exhibition, October 8–29, 1913, no. 122, as The Little Bridge.
1914–I Macbeth
Macbeth Gallery, New York, A Collection of Paintings by Deceased American Artists, March 11–30, 1914, no. 23, as The Little Bridge.
1928 Anderson Galleries
Anderson Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Works by American Artists Selected by the Associated Dealers in American Paintings. Inc., February 21–March 10, 1928, no. 110, as The Little Bridge, lent by William Macbeth, Inc.
1936 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, The Main Currents in the Development of American Painting, January 16–March 1, 1936, no. 83, as The Little Bridge.
1938 Springfield Museum of Fine Art
Springfield Museum of Fine Art, Massachusetts, A Century of American Landscape Painting, March 8–28, 1938, no. 58, ill. in b/w, as The Little Bridge.
1939 Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, A Century of American Landscape Painting, March 22–April 30, 1939, no. 42, as The Little Bridge.
1942–I Babcock
Babcock Galleries, New York, Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels by John H. Twachtman, February 9–28, 1942, no. 7, as The Little Bridge.
1980 Hurlbutt Gallery
William Benton Museum, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut and American Impressionism, March 20–May 31, 1980, no. 65, pp. 60, 75 ill. in b/w, as The Little Bridge.
1993 Georgia Museum of Art
Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, American Impressionism in Georgia Collections, September 11–November 14, 1993, no. 56, pp. 116–17 ill. in color, as The Little Bridge. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, December 5, 1993–March 6, 1994; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, April 16–June 19, 1994.
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 Little Bridge. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 17–September 16, 2001; Denver Art Museum, October 27, 2001–January 20, 2002.
2021–22 Dixon Gallery and Gardens
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee, America's Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution, January 23–April 11, 2021. (Burdan 2020); (Burns 2020); (Sharp 2020), no. 21, pp. 143, ill. in color, 197 ill. in color, as The Little Bridge. Traveled to: San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas, June 11–September 21, 2021; Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania, October 9, 2021–January 9, 2022.
Literature
American Art Association 1913
Private Collection Formed by the Widely Known Amateur William T. Evans. Auction catalogue, March 3–April 2, 1913. New York: American Art Association, 1913, lot 52 ill. in b/w, as The Little Bridge.
Tucker 1931
Tucker, Allen. John H. Twachtman. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1931, pp. 26–27 ill. in b/w, as The Little 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. 2, p. 543 (catalogue A, no. 81), as The Little Bridge. (Hale concordance).
Keyes 1993
Keyes, Donald. American Impressionism in Georgia Collections. Athens, Ga.: Georgia Museum of Art, 1993. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 116–17 ill. in color, as The Little 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. 51–52, 54 ill. in b/w, as The Little 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. 295; vol. 2, p. 852 ill. in b/w (fig. 332), as The Little Bridge.
Larkin 1998
Larkin, Susan G. "On Home Ground: John Twachtman and the Familiar Landscape." American Art Journal 29 (1998), pp. 71, 73, 76–77, 79 ill. in b/w, as The Little 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. 191–93 ill. in color, 194, as The Little Bridge.
Burdan 2020
Burdan, Amanda C. "Anticipating a Revolution: the Preconditions of American Impressionism." In America's Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution, Amanda C. Burdan, ed. Memphis, Tenn.: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 2020. Exhibition catalogue (2021–22 Dixon Gallery and Gardens), p. 25, as The Little Bridge.
Sharp 2020
Sharp, Kevin. "Independence and the Durability of 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. 106, as The Little Bridge.
Commentary

The bridge in this painting seems to be the same version of the bridge in The White Bridge (OP.981), a zigzag construction with a gazebo at its center. Whereas in OP.981, Twachtman probably stood on the west side of Horseneck Brook, where the land was steeper and rockier, here he was probably on the brook's east side. The prominent rock in this painting undergirds the bridge at the right; in OP.981 it is on a diagonal from Twachtman's gaze at the left side of the composition. In this image, the bridge stops the viewer's eye to emphasize the foreground, where the water fans outward during its peak flow in the spring or early summer. Within the work’s square format, the latticework bridge blends into its natural surroundings and helps to unify the image in relation to the picture plane.

New research indicates that The White Bridge (OP.981) was exhibited as The New Bridge in 1898, and that it featured a new bridge constructed by the artist in the summer of 1897. This painting presumably dates from that summer as well. How it obtained its current title is unknown. It was first used in 1908, when the work was shown as part of the collection of William T. Evans. Evans had purchased it from the artist’s wife in the previous year. The Little Bridge was included in the sale of Evans’s collection at the American Art Association in 1913. Later it belonged for a number of years to the Addison Gallery of American Art. 

Selected Literature

From Larkin 2001–I

The Little Bridge (fig. 128) harmonizes with the surrounding vegetation. Its latticed sides refract the sunlight as the foliage does; its slender supports echo the trunks of the trees that shade it. By painting the bridge white instead of an earthy brown, green, or gray, however, Twachtman ensured that it would not disappear into the setting but would accent it.