loading loading
John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society

Catalogue Entry

enlarge
Keywords
OP.987
The Grey Horse
Alternate titles: The Gray Horse; The White Horse; White Horse
1890s
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Gift of Wanda Otey Westheimer, 2016 (2016.005.001)
Provenance
Martha Twachtman, the artist's wife, Greenwich, Connecticut, by 1928;
(Milch, by 1959);
(Parke-Bernet, New York, November 5–7, 1959, lot 529);
(Kennedy Galleries, New York, by 1977);
to Jerome and Ellen Westheimer, 1982.
by descent to Wanda Otey Westheimer;
gift to present collection, 2016.
Exhibitions
1922 Cincinnati Art Museum.
Cincinnati Art Museum, The Twenty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Art, May 27–July 31, 1922, no. 25, as White Horse, lent by Colonel J. Alden Twachtman.
1928 Milch
Milch Galleries, New York, An Important Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, March 12–24, 1928, no. 12, as The White Horse.
1968 Spanierman
Ira Spanierman, New York, John Henry Twachtman, 1853–1902: An Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels, February 3–24, 1968, no. 20, as The Grey Horse.
1973 National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., American Impressionist Painting, July 1–August 26, 1973, no. 61, p. 129 ill. in b/w, as The Gray Horse. Traveled to: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 18–November 2, 1973; Cincinnati Art Museum, December 15, 1973–January 31, 1974; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, March 8–April 29, 1974.
1982 Saint Louis Art Museum
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri, Impressionism Reflected: American Art, 1890–1920, May 8–June 27, 1982, as The Gray Horse, lent by Harrison Securities, Inc.
1988 Oklahoma Art Center
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, Selections from the Eileen and Jerome Westheimer Collection, April 15–July 3, 1988, pp. 136–37, as The Gray Horse.
Literature
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. 459 (catalogue G, no. 261), as The White Horse. (Hale concordance).
Parke-Bernet 1959
American and English Furniture and Decorative Arts. Auction catalogue, November 5–7, 1959. New York: Parke-Bernet, 1959, lot 529, as The Gray Horse.
Kennedy Quarterly 1967
"The Turn of the Century." Kennedy Quarterly 7 (March 1967), p. 60 ill. in b/w, as The Gray Horse.
Kennedy Quarterly 1977
Kennedy Quarterly 15 (September 1977), p. 225 ill. in b/w, as The Gray Horse.
Antiques 1982–III
Antiques 122 (December 1982), p. 1131 ill. in color, as The Gray Horse.
Commentary

The Twachtman family owned a horse or horses during their years in Greenwich, as is documented in tax assessments. This white or gray horse is probably one that belonged to them. Twachtman captured it in a quiet moment on a hot summer day, its hooves in the shallow water of a pond—probably Horseneck Pond in Greenwich to the south of his home.

Rather than creating a quick sketch of this subject, Twachtman studied it carefully, capturing the horse's seemingly shy nature. Depicting it monumentally at the center of the canvas, he considered its shape in relation to the shoreline (its ears are above the distant hills) and accurately recorded the fall of the sunlight from the front and right over it and on the reflective surface of the water.