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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Catalogue Entry

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Keywords
E.601
Evening
Alternate title: Evening, Dordrecht
ca. 1881
Etching on paper
4 13/16 x 7 7/16 in. (12.2 x 18.9 cm)
Signed over plate, lower left: J. H. Twachtman [Inscribed below plate, lower left: F/694]
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Joseph Brooks Fair Collection (1908.450)
Provenance
Literature
Wickenden 1921
Wickenden, R[obert] J. The Art and Etchings of John Henry Twachtman. New York: Frederick Keppel, 1921, pp. 7 ill. in b/w, 28, 47, as Evening, Dordrecht.
New York Times 1921–III
"The World of Art: Etchings of John Henry Twachtman." New York Times, November 13, 1921, p. BRM5, as Evening, Dordrecht.
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. 27 ill. in b/w (fig. 4), 28, 82–83, ill. in b/w, as Evening. (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. 50–51 ill. in b/w, as Evening, Dordrecht.
Peters 2006–IV
Peters, Lisa N. "Catalogue." In John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter", by Lisa N. Peters. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue (2006 Spanierman), pp. 228–29 ill. in color, as Evening.
Commentary

An impression of this etching was shown in 1883 at the New York Etching Club (no. 58). Twachtman's interest in creating a nocturnal scene in an etching was probably spurred by Whistler's nocturnes in the same medium, such as a Venetian scene, Nocturne—Palaces, 1879–80. However, rather than letting excess ink remain on the surface of his plate in the manner of Whistler, Twachtman used tightly hatched lines to blend the windmills into the darkened land or water. Despite his atmospheric treatment, he carefully delineated the turning blades of the windmills and their smocks, which made them tower above the countryside. He brought out this aspect of the windmills by accentuating their dark silhouettes against the exposed paper. 

The impression of this etching in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated here, is a lifetime print. 

Selected Literature

From Wickenden 1921

From the freely sketched and less formal composition, Evening Dordrecht, emanates a subtle suggestion of twilight. The artist has not attempted to carry a full tone over the foreground, but evidently preferred to leave the plate with what he could gather from nature before night closed in. he has also bitten it more lightly through the fine lines and cross-hatching, thus increasing the atmospheric quality, and allowing the silhouette of mills and trees to remain, without an added touch to modify the directly recorded impression [p. 28].

From Peters 2006–V

The etching was created by Twachtman during his honeymoon in Holland in 1881. He used his plates to sketch his subjects directly, an approach that, of all his etchings, is best represented in this one. The cross-hatching blends aspects of the windmills, the atmosphere, and the landscape, creating a sense of the day's fading light. The composition is asymmetrically balanced, drawing our eye sideways across the surface.