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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.1208
The Waterfall
ca. 1895
Oil on canvas
16 5/8 x 21 3/8 in. (42.2 x 54.2 cm)
Signed lower right: J. H. Twachtman
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, Bequest of Candace C. Stimson (1944.25)
Provenance
Martha Twachtman, the artist's wife, Greenwich, Connecticut;
to (Macbeth);
to (Vose, 1919);
Mrs. Gustav Wiegand, 1930;
Candace C. Stimson;
bequest to present collection, 1944.
Exhibitions
1980 Hurlbutt Gallery
William Benton Museum, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut and American Impressionism, March 20–May 31, 1980, no. 70, p. 70 ill. in b/w, as The Waterfall.
1981 Addison Gallery
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, American Impressionism, February 13–March 8, 1981, as The Waterfall.
Literature
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, pp. 250, 253 ill. in b/w (fig. 49); vol. 2, p. 575 (catalogue A, no. 678), as The Waterfall. (Hale concordance).
Young 1980
Young, Mahonri Sharp. "Impressionism in Connecticut." Apollo 112 (December 1980), p. 419 ill. in b/w, as The Waterfall.
Commentary

This painting was identified by Martha Twachtman as a view of Niagara Falls. However, it is more likely to be an image along the Niagara River than of the falls themselves. In his image, Twachtman appears to have gazed from the bank of the rushing river so as to engage the viewer directly in its fast-moving currents and the impact of sunlight on its foaming surface.

The work was a bequest to its present collection by Candace Catherine Stimson (1869–1930), a granddaughter of the artist and design innovator Candace Wheeler (1827–1933) and the wife of surgeon Lewis Atterbury Stimson (1844–1917).