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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.1136
The Torrent
Alternate titles: The Brook; The Waterfall; Waterfall
1890s
Oil on canvas
25 1/4 x 30 1/8 in. (64.1 x 76.5 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman–
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Gift of William T. Evans (1909.7.66)
Provenance
William T. Evans, by 1904;
gift to present collection, 1909.
Exhibitions
1899 Carnegie Institute
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Fourth Annual Exhibition, November 2, 1899–January 1, 1900, no. 232, as The Waterfall.
1901–I Durand-Ruel
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, Paintings and Pastels by John H. Twachtman, March 4–16, 1901, as The Torrent.
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. 44, as The Torrent.
1901–II Worcester Art Museum
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, Third Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings, June 3–October 14, 1901, no. 49, as The Torrent.
1904 Ten American Painters
Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, Exhibition of Paintings, Ten American Artists, March 19–April 2, 1904, no. 37, as Waterfall.
1904 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, July 1904, no. 169, as The Torrent.
1904 Society of Art Collectors
Society of Art Collectors, New York, Comparative Exhibition of Native and Foreign Art, November 15–December 11, 1904, no. 167, as The Torrent, lent by John Gellatly.
1905 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, October 28, 1905, no. 156, as The Torrent.
1906–II Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of American Paintings from the Collection of William T. Evans, Esq., March 31, 1906 and following days, no. 66, as The Torrent.
1906 Wentworth Manor
Wentworth Manor, Montclair, New Jersey, American Paintings: Collection of William T. Evans, April 1906, no. 162, as The Torrent.
1906 National Arts Club
National Arts Club, New York, American Paintings from the Collection of Mr. William T. Evans, November 8–18, 1906, no. 52, as The Torrent.
1907–I Lotos Club
Lotos Club, New York, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman, January 5–31, 1907, no. 11, as The Torrent.
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. 26, as The Torrent.
1936 The Mint Museum
The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, Inaugural Exhibition, October 1, 1936–January 1, 1937, no. 9, as The Torrent.
1939 Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute
Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, Presenting the Work of John H. Twachtman, American Painter, November 5–28, 1939, no. 5, as The Torrent.
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. 61, as The Torrent, lent by the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1967 IBM Gallery
IBM Gallery, New York, Portrait of America: 1865–1915, January 16–February 25, 1967, no. 25, as The Torrent.
1990–I Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Ten American Painters, May 8–June 9, 1990, no. 10, as The Torrent.
2000 Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum, New York, American Impressionism: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000–2003, pp. 102–3 ill. in color, as The Torrent. 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.
Literature
Art Interchange 1899–V
"Carnegie Institute Exhibition." Art Interchange 43 (December 1899), p. 150 ill. in b/w, as The Brook.
International Studio 1900
"American Studio Talk." International Studio 9 (1900), p. xxiii ill. in b/w, as The Waterfall.
Art Interchange 1901–I
Art Interchange 63 (April 1901), p. 87, as The Torrent.
New-York Commercial Advertiser 1901–I
"The Art-World. Mr. Twachtman at Durand Ruel's." New-York Commercial Advertiser, March 5, 1901, p. 4, as The Torrent.
Sun 1901–I
"Around the Galleries: J. H. Twachtman's Landscape at Durand-Ruel's." Sun (New York), March 6, 1901, p. 6, as The Torrent.
New-York Tribune 1901–II
"Art Exhibitions: Paintings by Mr. Twachtman." New-York Tribune, March 6, 1901, p. 6, as The Torrent.
New York Herald 1904
"The Ten Open Annual Show." New York Herald, March 19, 1904, p. 12, as The Torrent.
New York Times 1904
"Ten American Painters." New York Times, March 19, 1904, p. 9, as The Torrent.
New-York Tribune 1904
"Art Exhibitions: The Annual Show of the Ten American Painters." New-York Tribune, March 19, 1904, p. 9, as The Torrent.
Art Bulletin 1907
"John Twachtman." Art Bulletin 6 (January 5, 1907), p. 1, as The Torrent.
Evening Star 1907
"American Paintings: Most of the Evans Collection Now on Exhibition." Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), April 6, 1907, p. 8, as The Torrent.
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 The Torrent.
Moser 1910
Moser, James Henry. "The National Gallery of Art." Art and Progress 1 (April 1910), p. 152, as The Torrent.
Henderson 1912
Henderson, Helen W. The Art Treasures of Washington. Boston: L. C. Page, 1912, pp. 230, opp. 230 ill. in b/w, as The Torrent.
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 The Torrent.
Tucker 1931
Tucker, Allen. John H. Twachtman. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1931, pp. 38–39 ill. in b/w, as The Torrent.
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. 388 ill. in b/w (fig. 139); vol. 2, pp. 573–74 (catalogue A, no. 629), as The Torrent. (Hale concordance).
Brown 1983
Brown, Milton. One Hundred Masterpieces of American Painting from Public Collections in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983, pp. 114–15 ill. in color, as The Torrent.
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. 197, as The Torrent.
Peters 1990–I
Peters, Lisa N. "John H. Twachtman: The Torrent." In Ten American Painters, by William H. Gerdts, et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 166 ill. in color, 167–69, as The Torrent.
Gerdts 1990–VI
Gerdts, William H. "The Ten: A Critical Chronology." In Ten American Painters, by William H. Gerdts et al. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990. Exhibition catalogue, p. 25, as The Torrent.
Prebus 1994
Prebus, Cynthia H. "Transitions in American Art and Criticism: The Formative Years of Early American Modernism, 1895–1905," Ph.D dissertation. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers, The State University, 1994, pp. 260. 263, 267, 269, 494 ill. in b/w, as The Torrent.
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. 380, 411; vol. 2, p. 925 ill. in b/w (fig. 411), as The Torrent.
Larkin 1996
Larkin, Susan G. "'A Regular Rendezvous for Impressionists:' The Cos Cob Art Colony 1882–1920." Ph.D. dissertation, 1996. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microforms, 1996, pp. xxix, 238, 474 ill. in b/w (8.31), as The Torrent.
Commentary

A view of Horseneck Falls looking northwest, The Torrent depicts Horseneck Brook at its fullest extent. The work, with its current title, was included in two of Twachtman’s 1901 exhibitions: at Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York and at the Cincinnati Art Museum. It was also the one painting chosen to represent Twachtman posthumously in the 1904 exhibition of the Ten American Painters, also held at Durand-Ruel. Although it was shown with the title of Waterfall in the Ten show, the critics described it as The Torrent. By 1906 the painting had entered the collection of William T. Evans, who sent it to a number of exhibitions in the following three years before donating it to the Smithsonian.

Selected Literature

From New-York Commercial Advertiser 1901–I

To turn to the more pleasant duty of commendation, there are some mountain streams dashing over rocks that are wholly agreeable. Thus the “Waterfall” has most beautiful opalescent tones, and the construction of the landscape is all we could ask, and a “Torrent” has these same qualities, with harmonious, lovely tints.

From New-York Tribune 1901–II

[Twachtman] transfers facts to canvas with such precision and with so individual a touch, in "The Torrent," with its really moving waters.

From New York Times 1904

There are eight contributors, and the place of the late John H. Twachtman is kept warm by one exhibit, “The Torrent.”

From Art Bulletin 1907

“The Torrent,” lent by the Chairman of the Arts Committee, Mr. Wm. T. Evans, is a powerful piece of work with a certain “preciousness” in the handling of the paint.

From Peters 1990–I

Twachtman’s sensitivity to shifts in season and weather are especially apparent in The Torrent. The falls spill down over the moist and mossy landscape, creating a sinuous and asymmetrical shape in the center of the canvas. The atmosphere, thick and damp following a recent rainfall, envelops the scene, and a silvery tone prevails. A hint of light on the horizon, however, suggests that the gray skies will soon lift. The contrast between the rough and sodden ground cover and the refreshing sparkle of the falls elicits a variety of different sensations in the viewer [p. 167].