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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.1160
Round Hill Road
After 1892
Oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 30 in. (76.5 x 76.2 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman
Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., Gift of William T. Evans (1909.7.64)
Provenance
Martha Twachtman, the artist's wife, Greenwich, Connecticut;
through (Silas S. Dustin, New York);
to William T. Evans;
gift to present collection, 1909.
Exhibitions
1910 National Gallery
National Gallery, Washington, D.C., Exhibition on the Opening of the Gallery in the New Building of the United States National Museum, March 16, 1910, no. 20, as Round Hill Road.
1959 National Collection of Fine Arts
National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., Turn-of-the-Century Paintings from the William T. Evans Collection, April 23–June 1, 1959, as Round Hill Road.
1963–64 American Federation of Arts
American Federation of Arts, New York, American Expressionists: Two Generations, October 1963–May 1964, no. 37, as Round Hill Road.
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. 82, as Round Hill Road, lent by the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1989–II National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, October 15, 1989–January 28, 1990. (Exhibition catalogue: Chotner 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Pyne 1989); (Exhibition catalogue: Peters 1989–I), no. 14, p. 102 ill. in color, as Round Hill Road. Traveled to: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, March 18–May 20, 1990.
1999 High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist, February 26–May 21, 2000. (Peters 1999–I), no. 33, as Round Hill Road. Traveled to: Cincinnati Art Museum, June 6–September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, October 16, 1999–January 2, 2000.
2000 Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum, New York, American Impressionism: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000–2003, no #, pp. 98–99 ill. in color, as Round Hill Road. Traveled to: Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, June 17–July 30, 2000; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, August 20–October 29, 2000; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, November 18, 2000–February 4, 2001; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey, March 4–May 20, 2001; Tacoma Art Museum, Washington, April 7–June 17, 2001; Portland Museum of Art, Maine, June 21–October 21, 2001; Worcester Art Museum, October 7, 2001–January 6, 2002; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, November 17, 2001–January 20, 2002.
2008 Clark Art Institute
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, June 22–October 19, 2008. (Hartley 2008); (Simpson 2008); (Stoner 2008), no. 23, ill. in color, as Round Hill Road.
2014–15 Terra Foundation for American Art
Terra Foundation for American Art, Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France, American Impressionism: A New Vision, 1880–1900, March 28–June 29, 2014. (Bourguignon 2014), as Round Hill Road. Traveled to: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, July 19–October 19, 2014; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015.
Literature
Rathbun 1909
Rathbun, Richard. "The National Gallery of Art: Department of Fine Arts of the National Museum." Bulletin of the United States National Museum 70 (July 1, 1909), p. 130, as Round Hill Road.
Henderson 1912
Henderson, Helen W. The Art Treasures of Washington. Boston: L. C. Page, 1912, p. 230, as Round Hill Road.
Holmes 1926
Holmes, William H. Smithsonian Institution, The National Gallery of Art, Catalogue of Collections II. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1926, p. 58, as Round Hill Road.
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. 1, p. 370 ill; in b/w; vol. 2, p. 567 (catalogue A, no. 515), as Round Hill Road. (Hale concordance).
National Museum of American Art 1983
National Museum of American Art. Descriptive Catalogue of Painting and Sculpture in the National Museum of American Art. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1983, p. 196, as Round Hill Road.
Kloss 1985
Kloss, William. Treasures from the National Museum of American Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985, pp. 96–97 ill. in color, 216, as Round Hill Road.
Chotner 1989
Chotner, Deborah. "Twachtman and the American Winter Landscape." In John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989–II National Gallery of Art), p. 81, as Round Hill Road.
Pyne 1989
Pyne, Kathleen A. "John Twachtman and the Therapeutic Landscape." In John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989–II National Gallery of Art), pp. 56 ill. in b/w, 61, as Round Hill Road.
Peters 1989–II
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman's Greenwich Garden." In In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of J. H. Twachtman, by Lisa N. Peters et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1989. Exhibition catalogue (1989 Spanierman), p. 14 ill. in b/w, as Round Hill Road.
May 1990
May, Stephen. "Twachtman at the Wadsworth Atheneum." Art Times (March 1990), p. 9, as Round Hill Road.
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, pp. 423, 495; vol. 2, p. 963 ill. in b/w (fig. 462), as Round Hill Road.
Peters 1999–I
Peters, Lisa N. John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist. Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 High Museum of Art), pp. 12 ill. in color (detail), 122 ill. in color, 123, as Round Hill Road.
May 2000–I
May, Stephen. "Expressing the Inexpressible." American Artist (February 2000), p. 20 ill. in color (detail), as Round Hill Road.
Lyman 2004
Lyman, Laurel. "The Influence of Japonisme on the American Impressionists." Ph.D. dissertation, Graduate School of the City University of New York, 2004. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microforms, 2004, pp. 108–9 ill. in b/w (fig. 81), as Round Hill Road.
Rosenbaum 2006
Rosenbaum, Julia B. Visions of Belonging: New England Art and the Making of American Identity. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University, 2006, p. 103, as Round Hill Road.
Peters 2006–III
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman and the Equipoise of Impressionism and Tonalism." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 62 ill. in color (fig. 55), 72, 159n1, as Round Hill Road.
Hartley 2008
Hartley, Cody. "True Illusions in Soft Paintings." In Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, by Marc Simpson. Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2008. Exhibition catalogue (2008 Clark Art Institute), pp. 77, 81–82, as Round Hill Road.
Stoner 2008
Stoner, Joyce Hill. "Materials for Immateriality." In Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly, by Marc Simpson. Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2008. Exhibition catalogue (2008 Clark Art Institute), pp. 101 ill. in color (detail) (fig. 42), as Round Hill Road.
Bourguignon 2014
Bourguignon, Katherine M. American Impressionism: A New Vision 1880–1900. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014. Exhibition catalogue (2014–15 Terra Foundation for American Art), pp. 45–46 ill. in color, as Round Hill Road.
Butler 2019
Butler, Eliza. "John Henry Twachtman and the Materiality of Snow." American Art 33 (Fall 2019), pp. 75, 79, 85–86, 89 ill. in color, 91, as Round Hill Road.
Commentary

On December 16, 1891, Twachtman wrote from Greenwich to Julian Alden Weir: "We must have snow and lots of it.  Never is nature more lovely than when it is snowing. Everything is so quiet and the whole earth seems wrapped in a mantle. That feeling of quiet and all nature is hushed to silence."[1]

Round Hill Road may be his most expressive iteration of this experience. His view in the work is looking north along Round Hill Road on a day when snow covers the ground, while new snow is falling. Through the blizzard, the road is barely visible, traversing on a curve into the distance. At the left, the gabled roof at the east end of the artist’s home can be glimpsed just above the curvilinear line of the stone wall that paralleled the road. Its farthest curve embraces the square shape of the Twachtman family barn. Along the road, trees recede at measured intervals, matching the feeling in the work of moving slowly along the road with little visibility and finding a way to proceed on the basis of the familiar landmarks.

This painting belonged to the artist’s wife and was sold by the estate agent Silas Dustin to William T. Evans, who gave it along with other works by Twachtman to the Smithsonian in 1909. 

[1] John H. Twachtman to Julian Alden Weir, December 16, 1891. 

Selected Literature

From Henderson 1912

In “Round Hill Road” are found those sensitive gradations of value, imperceptible save to the most acute eye, which Twachtman manipulated so skillfully, especially, as in this instance, in an effect of snow covered country.

From Stoner 2008, p. 101

Round Hill Road. . . is a gauzy Whistlerian symphony in white. It is easy to see how it would be greatly altered by a yellowing varnish or excessive oil medium.  Here, the nubby canvas weavism of Whistler and Fantin in the hazy sky contrasts with the smooth, thickly built-up surface of the snow, which buries the canvas weave in the lower section of the square painting. The square composition evokes Japanese prints, a break with the traditional contentions of landscape, an emphasis on a raised horizon, or simply looking through a frosted window on a silent snowy day.