John H. Twachtman 1853 - 1902

(M. Knoedler & Co., New York)
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., circa 1900-10
Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Washington, D.C., by 1941
(Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1975)
(Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, 1975)
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1976

John Douglass Hale, "The Life and Creative Development of John H. Twachtman", PhD diss., Ohio State University, 1957, cat. A, no. 549, p. 569

From the early 1890's and until his death in 1902, John Henry Twachtman reveled in the isolation afforded by his seventeen acre estate on Round Hill Road in Greenwich, Connecticut. His works from this period captured the surrounding landscape and the effects of the changing seasons and conveyed Twachtman's emotional response to the delicate and mysterious mood of nature. By the last quarter of the 19^th century, Twachtman had become a leading figure among the American Impressionists. In 1897 he became a founding member of The Ten, a group of artists who were influenced by French Impressionism and who disassociated themselves from the Society of American Artists, which they felt lacked any progressive inclinations. The Ten included Childe Hassam, Frank Benson and Edmund Tarbell among others.

Winter scenes comprise the largest portion of Twachtman's oeuvre and his preference for the tranquility of the season was evident in his letter to fellow artist and close friend J. Alden Weir, "We must have snow and lots of it. Never is nature more lovely than when it is snowing. Everything is so quiet and... All nature is hushed to silence" (Dorothy Weir Young, The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir, New Haven, Connecticut, 1960, p. 190). The present painting's composition focuses on the barn on Twachtman's Greenwich property, a structure which was located behind the main house and held particular fascination for the artist throughout his career. The Twachtman family stabled their animals in the barn, and while the building has been altered since their departure it continues to stand today in recognizable form. Lisa Peters writes, "Twachtman featured his barn in eight paintings that are known today. Of these, seven are similarly composed winter scenes on canvas, while the eighth is a smaller, sketchy oil on panel rendered in the spring" (John Twachtman, A "Painter's Painter", New York, 2006, p. 158). To the right of the pink-hued building, one can make out the tracks of Round Hill Road, which Twachtman renders with delicate blue strokes. While the barn dominates the field of vision in Snow, the work is unified by the atmospheric effects and soft tonal values which seem to dematerialize the small structure and effectually blend it into the composition. Subtle shifts of color portray understated effects of light and a misty sky infuses the work with a profound sense of calm.