Image scanned and/or photographed, then color-corrected by Pat Cagney.

October

Artist John Henry Twachtman (American, 1853-1902)

Dateca. 1901

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 37 1/4 × 37 1/4 × 2 5/8 in. (94.6 × 94.6 × 6.7 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.713

Terms

House
Trees
White
Yellow
Blue
Violet
Green
Impressionist
Cos Cob, Connecticut

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. It is an outdoor scene of the landmark Brush house and store in Cos Cob amid greenery and trees. The unifying factor is that all the colors are nearly the same value. It appears to have been painted during the brightest part of the day, so that the colors seem washed out or faded. The house is white and at an angle so that two sides are visible at once. The leaves of the trees are autumnal yellow and orange against a fair blue sky, while the foreground foliage is primarily green with lavender shadows.

Label Texttop Willard Leroy Metcalf American, 1858–1925 October Morning No. 1, 1910 Oil on canvas Lent by Joan and Macon Brock bottom John Henry Twachtman American, 1853–1902 October, ca. 1901 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.713 The American painters John Henry Twachtman and Willard Metcalf met in Paris in the winter of 1884 while studying the revolutionary Impressionist techniques of Claude Monet and his French contemporaries. After returning home, they formed a group called The Ten American Painters, emphasizing direct observation of the colors of natural sunlight. Together The Ten explored the Connecticut countryside, applying this style to their native landscape. Here, Metcalf presents a farm near the village of Old Lyme, while Twachtman’s subtle pastel tones capture a house near Cos Cob, both sites of artists’ colonies.