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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.1515
Lilacs in Winter
Alternate title: Lilac Bushes in Winter
ca. 1901–02
Oil on canvas
30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Stamped lower left: Twachtman Sale [1903 estate sale]
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott (1954.59)
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 79, as Lilac Bushes in Winter);
to Mrs. Williams;
to her granddaughter, Mrs. John A. Howell, Morristown, New Jersey, until 1948;
(Macbeth);
Mrs. Jacob Rand, New York, 1950–54;
(Macbeth);
present collection, 1954.
Exhibitions
1903–I American Art Galleries
American Art Galleries, New York, Sale of the Work of the Late John H. Twachtman, exhibition and auction, March 19–24, 1903, no. 79, as Lilac Bushes in Winter.
1949 Milch
Milch Galleries, New York, Paintings by John H. Twachtman, November 14–December 3, 1949, no. 6, as Lilac Bushes in Winter.
1952 Century Association
Century Association, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by Abbott Thayer and John H. Twachtman, March 5–May 4, 1952, as Lilacs in Winter, lent by Mrs. Jacob Rand.
1960 Flint Institute of Arts
Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan, American Landscape: 1760-1960, March 3–April 3, 1960, no. 43, as Lilacs in Winter.
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. 38, as Lilacs in Winter, lent by the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.
Literature
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Lilac Bushes in Winter.
New York Times 1903–III
"Twachtman Picture Sale." New York Times, March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Lilac Bushes in Winter.
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. 559 (catalogue A, no. 383), as Lilac Bushes in Winter. (Hale concordance).
Toledo Museum of Art 1979
The Toledo Museum of Art: American Paintings. Toledo, Ohio: Toledo Museum of Art, 1979, pp. 109, 156 ill. in b/w, as Lilacs in Winter.
Commentary

Lilacs in Winter is among the paintings Twachtman rendered from the porch of the Holley House in Cos Cob, depicting the view over the millpond and featuring its low-lying bridge that doubled as a dam. Facing due north, the Palmer & Duff shipyard to the east was not in Twachtman's visual field here. The store that was painted red that stood beside it is prominent in the right distance, but seems farther away than in other images. There are only hints of snow on the ground in the painting, but the scene evokes the chill of winter in its gray-toned atmosphere, the bareness of the lilac bushes in the foreground, and firmer outlines in the buildings than in View from the Holley House, Cos Cob, Connecticut (OP.1512). In a letter of ca. March 1901 to an unknown recipient (probably Elmer MacRae or his wife Emma Constant Holley, to whom he was married on October 17, 1900), Twachtman wrote "The snow is still coming down like hell and we are all going to do the bridge even through the lilac bushes with the paint shop" (John H. Twachtman, Cos Cob, Connecticut, to unknown recipient, ca. March 1901) Perhaps he was referring to this painting. 

This painting was included in Twachtman’s 1903 estate sale, from whom it sold for $280 to a buyer listed in newspapers as "Mrs. Williams." It was later handled twice by Macbeth, from which it was purchased by the Toledo Museum in 1954.