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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.1153
River in Winter
1890s
Oil on canvas
36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed lower left: J. H. Twachtman–
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Purchase (07.4)
Provenance
Through (Silas S. Dustin, New York);
to present collection, 1907.
Exhibitions
1905 Knoedler
M. Knoedler & Co, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Pictures by John H. Twachtman, January 2–11, 1905, no. 2, as River in Winter.
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 29.
1907 Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Eleventh Annual Carnegie Institute International Exhibition, April 11–June 13, 1907, no. 459, as River in Winter.
1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Department of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, February 20–December 4, 1915, no. 4053, as River in Winter, lent by the Carnegie Institute.
1957 Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, American Classics of the Nineteenth Century, October 18–December 1, 1957, no. 101, as River in Winter. Traveled to: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, January 5–26, 1958; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, February 14–March 16, 1958; Baltimore Museum of Art, April 8–May 4, 1958; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, May 22–June 25, 1958.
1966 Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Art of the United States: 1670-1966, September 28–November 27, 1966, no. 280, as River in Winter.
Literature
New York Herald 1905
"Twachtman's Paintings Seen." New York Herald, January 1, 1905, section 1, p. 14, as River in Winter.
New York Post 1905
"A Twachtman Memorial." New York Post, January 4, 1905, p. 7, as River in Winter.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1907
"Buys Paintings: 'The Bath?' No!" Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 12, 1907, p. 2, as River in Winter.
Carnegie Institute 1912
Carnegie Institute. Lists of Paintings, Drawings, and Japanese Prints in the Permanent Collections of the Department of Fine Arts. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1912, as River in Winter.
O'Conner 1951
O'Conner, John, Jr. "From Our Permanent Collection." Carnegie Magazine 25 (April 1951), p. 136 ill. in b/w, 137–38, as River 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. 655–67 (catalogue A, no. 507), as River in Winter. (Hale concordance).
Carnegie Institute 1973
Carnegie Institute. Catalogue of the Painting Collection, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1973, p. 171 ill. in color (plate 61), as River in Winter.
Hiesinger 1991
Hiesinger, Ulrich. Impressionism in America: The Ten American Painters. Munich: Prestel, 1991, p. 23 ill. in b/w, as River in Winter.
May 1991
May, Stephen. "Visual Poetry: The Landscapes of John Henry Twachtman." Carnegie Magazine 60 (January–February 1991), pp. 33 ill. in color, 36, as River in Winter.
Strazdes 1992
Strazdes, Diana. American Paintings and Sculpture to 1945 in the Carnegie Museum of Art. New York: Hudson Hills in association with the Carnegie Museum of Art, 1992, pp. 17, ill. in color, 457–58, ill. in b/w, as River in Winter.
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. 497; vol. 2, p. 1013 ill. in b/w (fig. 514), as River in Winter.
Commentary

Probably a view of Horseneck Brook iced over in the bareness of a wintry countryside, this painting is first known to have been exhibited in 1905, when it was included with its current title in the memorial show of Twachtman’s works at Knoedler. A New York Times critic reviewing the show could have had the painting in mind in the comment: "In his treatment of Winter scenes Twachtman has a very individual way of suggesting the soft and flocculent quality of snow by avoiding a smooth and even surface, preferring to the clear hard Winter weather the moment when a thaw is in the air, the atmosphere is charged with moisture, and the snow itself is ready to dissolve."[1]

When the painting was included in the Carnegie Institute 1907 International Exhibition, it was not among the prizewinners, but it was one of three works selected for acquisition by the fine arts commitee.[2]  

[1] New York Times 1905. 

[2] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1907. 

Selected Literature

From O'Conner 1951

The outline of the river is subtly traced throughout the length of the canvas, and all the landscape is enveloped in variations of white underlined with a pale turquoise. There is one little spot of light brown in the painting that offers a vital note to what is an almost unearthly scene. It is as if one were in an airplane on a journey through the clouds.
          In River in Winter the artist perfected, or at least extended, the potentialities of impressionism with new refinements of atmosphere and subtle nuances of light and color. . . . River in Winter was painted on a canvas that had not been thoroughly scraped to eliminate all the traces of the first painting or sketch on it. The branches of a tree in the initial painting are still discernible in the upper center of the canvas.  Innumerable cracks have appeared on the surface. It has been relined twice. The second rebacking was done in 1924, when many surface lesions were obliterated, the dirty and old varnish removed, and the whole canvas revarnished.  This was done by the late H. E. Thompson, of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The painting has since remained in very good condition with no further deterioration.