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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Cos Cob, ca. 1901–02 (OP.1506). Fig. 1. OP.1506, Cos Cob, detail showing signature.
Fig. 1. OP.1506, Cos Cob, detail showing signature.
Cos Cob, ca. 1901–02 (OP.1506). OP.1506, Cos Cob, verso.
OP.1506, Cos Cob, verso.
Related Work
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Keywords
OP.1506
Cos Cob
Alternate titles: Spring at Cos Cob; Spring, Cos Cob; Springtime
ca. 1901–02
Oil on canvas
24 1/2 x 37 1/2 in. (62.2 x 95.2 cm)
Signed lower left: per A.T [the artist's son, Alden]
Estate of private collection
Provenance
by descent in the family;
to (James Graham & Sons, New York);
to private collection;
to the estate of the late owner.
Exhibitions
1928 Milch probably
Milch Galleries, New York, An Important Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, March 12–24, 1928, no. 11, as Spring at Cos Cob.
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Small Paintings of Museum Importance on Exhibition, March 28–April 9, 1932, no. 16, as Spring, Cos Cob.
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Summer Exhibition of Paintings by Contemporary and Lately Deceased Painters, Summer 1939, no. 15, as Spring, Cos Cob.
Literature
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. 494 (catalogue G, nos. 583, 584, and 585), as Spring, Cos Cob. (Hale concordance).
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. 468; vol. 2, p. 979 ill. in b/w (fig. 479), as Springtime.
American Art. Auction catalogue, November 20, 2018. New York: Christie's, 2018, lot 47 ill. in color, as Cos Cob.
Commentary

Like View of the Brush House, Cos Cob, Connecticut (OP.1505) and October (OP.1507), Cos Cob is a scene looking northeast from on or near the porch of the Holley House in Cos Cob (see Glossary of Names), looking toward the Brush House and store (see October, fig. 1).[1] However, here in a springtime view, only the store can be seen. The Brush House is mainly evident in the two red rectangles indicative of its double chimneys. Twachtman accentuated his oblique angle in a rectangular format in which the tree to the left of the composition's center is at the left side of the store, while a road curves away at the right. 

This work was signed by the artist's son Alden, whose initials are on the lower left (fig. 1).   


[1] Built between 1751 and 1784, the Brush House descended in the family of colonial settlers in Greenwich involved in the shipping trade and was occupied during Twachtman’s years in Greenwich by Joseph E. B. Brush (1833–1914), an eccentric, retired individual who lived alone. See Larkin 2001–I, pp. 119–25.