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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.1425
Under the Wharves
ca. 1900
Oil on panel (two cigar box tops stapled together)
5 1/2 x 10 in. (14 x 25.4 cm)
Signed lower right: Twachtman– [J. H. in the signature was rubbed off when the work was cleaned]
Roxane Sismanidis and Stephen Burant
Provenance
(American Art Galleries, New York, Twachtman estate sale, March 24, 1903, no. 17;
to Julian Alden Weir;
to his daughter, Mrs. G. Page Ely (nee Caroline Weir), Old Lyme, Connecticut;
to her daughter Anna Ely Smith;
to her son Alexander G. Smith, California;
to (Joseph Szymanski Gallery, Pasadena, California, 1997);
to (Spanierman, 1997);
to private collection, 1998;
(Sotheby's, New York);
by private sale to present collection, 2020.
Exhibitions
1901 Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Works of John H. Twachtman, January 8–27, 1901, no. 41, as Under the Wharves.
1901–I Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum, Exhibition of Sixty Paintings by Mr. John H. Twachtman, Formerly Resident in Cincinnati, April 12–May 16, 1901, no. 31, as Under the Wharves.
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. 17, as Under the Wharves.
2006 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter," May 4–June 24, 2006. (Nelson 2006); (Parkes 2006); (Peters 2006–I); (Peters 2006–II); (Peters 2006–III); (Peters 2006–IV), no. 63, as Under the Wharves, shown only in New York. Traveled to: Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, July 13–October 29, 2006.
Literature
Sun 1903–II
"Twachtman Pictures, $16,610." Sun (New York), March 25, 1903, p. 5, as Under the Wharves.
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. 577 (catalogue A, no. 703b), as Under the Wharves. (Hale concordance).
Peters 2006–IV
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N. Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 204–5 ill. in color, as Under the Wharves.
Commentary

To create the support for Under the Wharves, Twachtman attached two cedarwood cigar box tops of the same size together with staples. The horizontal format that resulted may have prompted his design, which features repeating horizontals. The covered wharf in the work is both within the scene and establishes its frame.

TThis painting is represented in one of Twachtman’s charcoal sketches recording  work he created in the summer of 1900 (D.1407). The differences between the sketch and the painting suggest that he made changes to the painting after he drew it. He reduced the rigging on the anchored ship at the center of the work, gave more solidity to the shed in the background, and created a larger opening beneath the wharf’s roof.

Under the Wharves was exhibited with its current title in Twachtman’s 1901 exhibitions in Chicago and Cincinnati.

The painting was subsequently in Twachtman’s 1903 estate sale, where it was one of six works purchased from the sale by Julian Alden Weir. At a point when the painting was cleaned, the J. H. in the artist’s signature rubbed off. The full signature can be seen in earlier photographs of the work.