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A stream meanders back through snowbanks in this wooded landscape, which is created entirely with cool, pale tones of white, gray, blue, lilac, and golden beige in this nearly square painting. Steep banks sloping toward the stream are mounded with snow. Touches of tan and pale pink suggest traces of foliage in some of the tree branches above. The paint is loosely applied so some brushstrokes are visible, creating a soft, hazy view of this scene.

John Henry Twachtman

Winter Harmony, c. 1890/1900

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 70

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 65.4 x 81.1 cm (25 3/4 x 31 15/16 in.)

framed: 85.1 x 100 x 5.7 cm (33 1/2 x 39 3/8 x 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Avalon Foundation

Accession Number

1964.22.1

Artists / Makers

John Henry Twachtman (artist) American, 1853 - 1902

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

lower right: J. H. Twachtman

Provenance

Purchased c. 1900 from the artist by Mrs. Lucius Horatio Bigelow [née Anna Gates Graham, 1848-1919], New York; by inheritance to her daughter, Mrs. Edward Lathrop Ballard [née Elizabeth Gates Biglow, 1876-1964], New York and Ridgefield, Connecticut; consigned to (sale, Coleman Auction Galleries, Inc., New York, 15 November 1963, no. 746, as Winter Scene); (Ira Spanierman, New York); sold 1963 to (Vose Galleries, Boston); purchased 1964 by NGA.

Associated Names

Ballard, Edward Lathrop, Mrs.
Biglow, Lucius Horatio, Mrs.
Coleman Auction Galleries, Inc.
Spanierman Gallery
Vose Galleries

Exhibition History

1891: Possibly Wunderlich Gallery, New York, 1891.

1966: John Henry Twatchman: A Retrospective Exhibition, Cincinnati Art Museum, 1966, no. 69.

1968: Spirit of Romanticism [Springfield Art Festival], Drury College Art Gallery, Springfield, Missouri, 1968, no cat.

1969: In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1971: French Impressionists Influence American Artists, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, 1971, no. 178.

1971: Wilderness, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1971, no. 162 (organized by the National Endowment for the Arts).

1973: American Impressionism, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Cincinnati Art Museum; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, 1973-1974, no. 65.

1977: Turn-of-the-Century America: Paintings, Graphics, Photographs, 1890-1910, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; St. Louis Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Oakland Museum, 1977-1978, no. 77, repro.

1980: The Snow Show, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1980, no. 97.

1989: John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1989-1990, no. 1.

1990: American Impressionism: Masterworks from Public and Private Collections in the United States, Fondazione Thyssen-Bornemisza, Villa Favorita, Lugano, Switzerland, 1990, no. 28.

1998: New Worlds from Old: 19th Century Australian & American Landscapes, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no. 100, repro.

1999: John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist, Cincinnati Art Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2000, no. 49, repro. (shown only in Atlanta).

2009: Expanding Horizons: American and Canadian Painting and Photography: 1860-1918, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Vancouver Art Gallery,, 2009-2010, no 25, repro.

Bibliography

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 118, repro.

1979: Boyle, Richard J. John Twachtman. New York, 1979: 17, 42, color repro. 43.

1980: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 251, repro.

1980: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 138, no. 50, color repro.

1981: Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 164-5, 193.

1988: Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 158, no. 56, color repro.

1989: Chotner, Deborah, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen Pyne. John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1989: 27, 54.

1992: American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 370, repro.

1992: Pyne, Kathleen. "Resisting Modernism: American Painting in the Culture of Conflict." In Thomas Gaehtgens and Heinz Ickstadt, eds., American Icons: Transatlantic Perspectives and Nineteenth-Century American Art. Santa Monica, California, 1992.

1998: Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 203-206, color repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 335, no. 269, color repro.

2008: Miller, Angela et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2008: 329, color fig. 10.7.