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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.824
Haystack
Alternate title: Hay Stack
ca. 1888–89
Oil on canvas
15 15/16 x 23 1/2 in. (40.5 x 59.7 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Mrs. Edward L. Fretwell Jr., Oklahoma City
Provenance
Edwin Willard Deming;
to estate of Edwin Willard Deming, Taos, New Mexico, 1942;
Walter Randel, as of 1981;
(Spanierman, 1981);
to present collection, 1982.
Exhibitions
1891 Wunderlich probably
H. Wunderlich & Co, New York, Paintings in Oil and Pastels by J. H. Twachtman, March 1891, no. 6, as Hay Stack.
Literature
Art Amateur 1891 probably
"My Notebook." Art Amateur 24 (April 1891), p. 116, as Hay Stack.
Mail and Express 1891 probably
"The World of Art: An Impressionist's Work in Oil and Pastel—Mr. J. H. Twachtman's Pictures." Mail and Express (New York), March 26, 1891, p. 3, as Hay Stack.
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. 455 (catalogue G, no. 247), as Hay Stack. (Hale concordance).
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. 348; vol. 2, p. 879 ill. in b/w (fig. 365), as Hay Stack.
Commentary

This was probably the painting titled Hay Stack that was included in Twachtman's 1891 solo exhibition at Wunderlich Gallery, New York. A critic for the New York Mail and Express described the work as “another fascinating picture . . . lovely in its summer coloring.” The haystack in full sunlight is an unusual subject for Twachtman, but it may have interested him for a perspective in which the overly large haystack towers over the horizon line and above the trees and buildings in the distance. 

Haystack's first-known owner was Edwin Willard Deming (1860–1942), an artist-friend of Twachtman's who is best known for scenes of Western life. Originally from Ashland, Ohio, Deming overlapped with Twachtman in Paris in 1884, when both were pupils of Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger at the Académie Julian. In 1886–87, the two painted cycloramas together in the studios of Reed and Gross in Englewood, Illinois (now part of Chicago). It was probably at Deming’s invitation that Twachtman joined this project. The artists remained close in New York City in 1888.[1] When Twachtman was residing with his family in Branchville, Connecticut, in the summer of 1888, he invited Deming to join him before the latter moved West.[2]

[1]  Edwin Willard Deming, New York, letter, May 24, 1888, to his parents, Geneseo, Illinois, Edwin Willard Deming Papers, New York Public Library. This letter states: "Twachtman's family came in last night and he has taken rooms for them on Gramercy Park. Am going around tomorrow to meet his wife and family. He goes out into the country for the summer soon now -- . . .”

[2]  John H. Twachtman, Branchville, Conn., letter, to Edwin Willard Deming, [New York], June 5, 1888, Geneseo, Illinois, Edwin Willard Deming Papers, New York Public Library.      

Selected Literature

From Art Amateur 1891

Other excellent snow scenes are “The Hemlock Pool” and “Miossehassety Falls,” and summer light and color are treated with equal success in “The Farm-House” and “The Hay Stack.”