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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Bridgeport, ca. 1888 (E.805). Fig. 1. Fig. 1. Twachtman, Bridgeport, illustrated from Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir, N. A., and J. H. Twachtman, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, exh. cat. 1889, pp. 23–24.
Fig. 1. Fig. 1. Twachtman, Bridgeport, illustrated from Paintings in Oil and Pastel by J. Alden Weir, N. A., and J. H. Twachtman, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, exh. cat. 1889, pp. 23–24.
Related Work
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Keywords
E.805
Bridgeport
Alternate titles: Bridgeport, The Dock; The Dock, Bridgeport
ca. 1888
Etching on paper
3 7/8 x 6 in. (9.8 x 15.2 cm)
Signed in plate, lower left: J.H.T. [Signed below plate, lower right, by the artist's son Alden: JHT per AT]
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Gift of Mrs. Hersey Egginton in memory of her son, Everett, Class of 1921 (PR.954.20.548)
Provenance
Literature
Ryerson 1920
Ryerson, Margery. "John H. Twachtman's Etchings." Art in America 8 (February 1920), pp. 94 ill. in b/w, 95, as Bridgeport.
Thorpe 1921
Thorpe, Jonathan. "John H. Twachtman." Arts 1 (October 1921), p. 7 ill. in b/w, as Bridgeport, The Dock.
Wickenden 1921
Wickenden, R[obert] J. The Art and Etchings of John Henry Twachtman. New York: Frederick Keppel, 1921, pp. 34, 37 ill. in b/w, 48, as The Dock, Bridgeport.
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. 32, 108–109, ill. in b/w, as Bridgeport. (Baskett concordance).
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. 234–35 ill. in color, as Bridgeport.
Commentary

This etching was illustrated in the catalogue for the show and sale of the work of Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir, held in early February 1889, at the Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, New York (fig. 1). It was intended to serve as an illustration of the painting, Bridgeport (OP.826), which was included in the show. That the etching has the same orientation as the painting suggests that Twachtman may have decided to correct the etching's mirror-imaging or that he based the painting on the etching. If the latter is the case, it is perplexing that there are several additional and different elements in the painting that suggest firsthand observation (such as the bulkheads, more built up architecture along the harbor at the right, and an anchored boat at the far right). Another work with the same orieintation is the watercolor Inner Harbor, Bridgeport (WC.801), in which the buildings have different proportions and less detail along the far shore. 

The impression in the Hood Museum of Art, illustrated here, is a posthumous etching. It was among nineteen etchings reprinted for the 1921 exhibition at Frederick Keppel and Company, New York. According to Baskett, the printer was probably Peter Platt, a professional printer who produced etchings for Childe Hassam and John Sloan.

Lifetime states (from Baskett 1999)

I. Before initials in plate, illustrated in Ryerson 1920 (p. 94). 

II. With initials "J.H.T. at lower left: Fifth Avenue Art Galleries edition.

Selected Literature

From Wickenden 1921

[this etching] is an example of the rectangular composition often employed by Twachtman in dock motives, the squareness of the buildings being relieved by the diagonals of roofs and a mast with sail that breaks the horizon at the extreme right. The lightly touched reflections of the water that fills the foreground contribute to the effect by a contrary mobility [p. 34].