ARTtalk
...the link between you, the visual artist, and the manufacturer of art
materials.
established 1990
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1853, John Henry Twachtman became one of the most highly respected American landscape painters of all time. His first artistic efforts were painting floral window shades for his father's business during the day, while he spent his evenings training at the Ohio Mechanics Institute. In 1874 he studied at the Cincinnati School of Design and was chosen to study in Munich at the Royal Academy. His mechanics career was abandoned in favor of visual arts. From 1883 to 1885, Twachtman studied in Paris, where he was influenced by the paintings of James Abbott McNeill Whistler and the French Impressionists. Twachtman returned to the United States and by 1888 had settled in Connecticut, where most of his work was executed. That same year he won an award for a landscape from the Society of American Artists, and in 1889 he had a very successful two-man show with J. Alden Weir. It was at this time that he began teaching at the Art Students League.
In 1898 Twachtman founded the "Ten American Painters," who became known simply as "The Ten." These painters were considered the leading American Impressionists and included Theodore Robinson, Theodore Wendel, Childe Hassam and J. Alden Weir.With the invention of lead tube colors, Impressionists of Twachtman's day could paint outdoors, capturing the changing effects of light on their subjects. They were attempting to capture what the eye actually saw, the constantly changing effects of light and color, rather than what the brain registered. This is the truest meaning of impressionistic work.
  |
In color and style, Twachtman was strongly influenced by the French Impressionists. And although American Impressionism was usually measured against the French masters, John Henry Twachtman's work was distinctly his own. He took a very specific, well accepted style and developed it into a particularly sensitive and very natural projection through his personal painting methods. His perception and vision depended on sensibility as much as objectivity.
A hallmark of Twachtman's work was the use of square or vertical canvases, departing from the more customary horizontal format. An aggressive painter, the artist often sanded the oils he used and the surfaces he painted to mimic an aged or weathered quality. Noted as the very first painter to use the color blue for shadows, he was known as a master in the use of color values. He was also a pioneer in the use of complementary colors rather than black for shading objects.
When viewing Twachtman's work one sees the delicate, sketchy, unfinished-appearing brushwork, as vital today as when painted 100 years ago. His work was similar in one way to most other American landscape painters of his day. In contrast to the European painters who gave importance to the sky, the Americans chose to give most of the composition over to the land. Much of his work depicted isolation and seldom had figures, supporting his theory that a real landscape painter was close to the land, spending great amounts of time in the country, in isolation and nearer to nature.
One of Twachtman's favorite subjects was the area around Gloucester, MA, where he spent the last two years of his life. It was at this location that he painted his personal favorite of all the works of his career. Bark and Schooner, completed in the summer of 1900, was regarded by the artist as "the best thing I ever painted." After his premature death in 1902, this seaport became a favorite site for many later generations of painters. The quality of the light and the ever-changing natural beauty of the landscape make it as appealing today as it was for Twachtman.
Twachtman was fond of poetry, and was passionate about classical music, especially Brahms, Chopin and Schubert. Taken as comparisons, both poetry and music can be applied to Twachtman's work. His paintings were full of atmosphere, harmony and color, and they relate directly to the two other art forms. There was a type of synergistic relationship between the three creative disciplines.See the first retrospective of John Twachtman's work in over 30 years at the High Museum, Atlanta, GA, through May 21. Featured in John Twachtman: An American Impressionist are 52 oil paintings and six pastels selected from the finest works of the artist's career.
| • ARTtalk's Manufacturer Art Materials/Product Info. Center • |
 |
Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 10 No. 6 -- April 2000