John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné
An online catalogue by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., in collaboration with the Greenwich Historical Society
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Keywords
E.501
Autumn Landscape
Alternate title: Autumn, Avondale
ca. 1879–80
Etching on paper
4 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (11.1 x 16.8 cm)
[Signed below plate, lower right, by the artist's son Alden: JHT per AT]
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., Museum purchase (1976.107.1)
Provenance
Literature
Wickenden 1921
Wickenden, R[obert] J. The Art and Etchings of John Henry Twachtman. New York: Frederick Keppel, 1921, pp. 23 ill. in b/w, 30–31, 48, as Autumn, Avondale.
Baskett 1966
Baskett, Mary Welsh. "Prints." In John Henry Twachtman: A Retrospective Exhibition, by Richard J. Boyle, Mary Welsh Baskett, and Philip R. Adams. Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1966. Exhibition catalogue (1966 Cincinnati Art Museum), p. 32, as Autumn, Avondale.
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. 127; vol. 2, p, 644 ill. in b/w (fig. 95), as Autumn, Avondale.
Baskett 1999
Baskett, Mary Welsh. John Henry Twachtman: American Impressionist Painter as Printmaker—A Catalogue Raisonné of His Prints. Bronxville, N.Y.: M. Hausberg, 1999, pp. 66–67, ill. in b/w, as Autumn Landscape. (Baskett concordance).
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. 44 ill. in b/w (fig. 19), 45, as Autumn, Avondale.
Commentary

Mary Baskett writes that "one of the three lifetime impressions of Autumn Landscape located in private collections was framed with an impression of Twachtman's etching Harbor with Barges (No. 2) [E.301]. A label on the back of the frame read, "Invoice No. 249; Received August 11, 1880; Artist J. H. Twachtman; Title, 2 Etchings." As Baskett notes, if the date on the label is correct, this image was probably among the "Six studies" exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition of American Etchers, in 1881 and the Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exposition during the fall of 1880." 

The etching demonstrates Twachtman's use of his medium for freehand outdoor drawing, recording patterns of light and shadow by an energetic use of his needle on a portable etching plate. Leaving the paper exposed for the land in the foreground, he delineated grasses and a small figure with quick scribbles and broken lines. In the trees and hills, he filled in the foliage and hills with forceful hatching while letting the paper serve as light and the openness of the sky, where only a few horizontal lines indicate passing clouds.  

The impression of this etching in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, illustrated here, is lifetime print and belongs to State II. 

Lifetime states (from Baskett 1999)

I. Before four lines in grass at lower left.

II. With the four lines.

Selected Literature

From Wickenden 1921

Of the American plates we might look first at are those done near the artist’s birthplace, Cincinnati. Autumn, Avondale, and Winter, Avondale [E.504], are characteristic American landscapes of subjects probably familiar to the artist from boyhood. In the former, a bit of woodland, the larger trees are beginning to lose their leaves, while in several smaller bushes nearer to us, the foliage appears brilliant in colour. The light weedy space that spreads diagonally across the foreground from the left is relieved by the dark note of a reclining figure. The crisp touch, sharp contrasts and full biting are in keeping with the atmospheric keenness of a bright Fall day [pp. 309–10].