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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Exhibitions
1919 Macbeth
Macbeth Gallery, New York, Paintings by John H. Twachtman, January 1919, no. 13, as The Cascade.
1920-I Milch
Milch Galleries, New York, Important Works in Paintings and Sculpture by Leading American Artists, April 1920, ill. in b/w, as The Cascade.
1937 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum, New York, Leaders of American Impressionism: Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, John H. Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir, October 17–November 28, 1937, no. 68, as The Cascade, lent by Horatio S. Rubens, New York.
1942–I Babcock
Babcock Galleries, New York, Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels by John H. Twachtman, February 9–28, 1942, no. 18, as The Cascade.
1946 Grand Central Galleries
Grand Central Galleries, New York, Sixty American Artists since 1800, November 19–December 5, 1946, no. 18, as The Cascade.
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. 22, p. 110 ill. in color, as The Cascade. Traveled to: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, March 18–May 20, 1990.
2001–II Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, 110 Years of American Art: 1830–1940, October 15–December 31, 2001, as The Cascade.
2006 Spanierman
Spanierman Gallery, New York, John Twachtman (1853–1902): A "Painter's Painter," May 4–June 24, 2006. (Nelson 2006); (Parkes 2006); (Peters 2006–I); (Peters 2006–II); (Peters 2006–III); (Peters 2006–IV), no. 57, as The Cascade. Traveled to: Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, July 13–October 29, 2006.
Literature
Britton 1919
Britton, James. "Exhibition Now On: Twachtmans at Macbeth's." American Art News 17 (January 11, 1919), p. 2, as The Cascade.
Tucker 1931
Tucker, Allen. John H. Twachtman. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1931, pp. 24–25 ill. in b/w, as The Cascade.
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. 2, p. 544–45 (catalogue A, no. 121), as The Cascade. (Hale concordance).
Flexner 1970
Flexner, James Thomas. Nineteenth-Century American Painting. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1970, pp. 248–49 ill. in color, as The Cascade.
Richard 1989
Richard, Paul. "John Twachtman's Scenes of Silence: At the National Gallery, Meditations on the Landscape." Washington Post, October 22, 1989, p. G10 ill. in b/w, as The Cascade.
Peters 1989–I
Peters, Lisa N. "Twachtman's Greenwich Paintings: Context and Chronology." 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. 34 ill. in color (detail), 35–36, 110 ill. in color, as The Cascade.
May 1990
May, Stephen. "Twachtman at the Wadsworth Atheneum." Art Times (March 1990), p. 9, as The Cascade.
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, p. 487 ill. in b/w, as The Cascade.
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. 381; vol. 2, p. 927 ill. in b/w (fig. 413), as The Cascade.
Sotheby's New York 1995–I
American Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors from the IBM International Foundation Auction catalogue, May 25, 1995. New York: Sotheby's, 1995, lot 35 ill. in color, as The Cascade.
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), p. 69, as The Cascade.
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. 104, 192–93 ill. in color, as The Cascade.
Commentary

This painting belongs to a group of images, including Waterfall, Blue Brook (OP.1137), The Waterfall (OP.1138), Falls in January (OP.1140), in which Twachtman narrowed in just on Horseneck Falls, rendering water and rocks in a monumental arrangement close to the picture plane. He depicted each at a different time of day, and The Cascade appears to be in the lowered light of approaching evening, when the foam and movement of the falls was particularly pronounced against its shadowed surroundings.  

The Cascade probably remained in the artist’s estate until approximately 1919, when it was in Macbeth Gallery’s exhibition of works selected mostly from the estate. In the following year, it was included in a Milch exhibition, whose catalogue noted: “There is a convincing feeling of structural and basic design in the picture which is satisfying, though the chief charm lies in the delicacy of touch with which it is painted. The waters seem really to be rushing and leaping along. The deep grey-blue of the water breaks into white foam as the cascades fall from one level to another.” By 1931 the painting belonged to Horatio Seymour Rubens (1869–1941), who fought to free Cuba from Spain and later was president of the Cuban railroad. It was owned by the IBM Corporation from 1944 until 1995.

Selected Literature

From 1919 Macbeth 

The blue waters of this double-terraced cascade break into foam and spray as they dash to the deep and turbulent pool below. Hard, uncompromising rocks on either side hold the rushing waters in this course, while overhead a patch of sullen gray sky looks down on the restlessness below.