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

October

Artist John Henry Twachtman (American, 1853-1902)

CultureAmerican

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)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.713

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. ProvenanceMartha Scudder Twachtman; Charles A. Platt by 1913; Mrs. Charles A. Platt, 1934; Milch Gallery, New York; Oliver P. James, Phoenix; Sale Parke-Bernet, Oct. 24, 1946 (cat. no. 72); Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"Exhibition of Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman," Lotos Club, New York, N.Y., 1907. (Exh. cat. no. 30) "Sixth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists," Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., and City Art Museum, St. Louis, Mo., 1911. (Exh. cat. no. 120) "Exhibition of Fifty Paintings by the Late John H. Twachtman," New York School of Applied Design for Women, New York, N.Y., 1913. (Exh. cat. no. 38) "Exhibition of Paintings and Pastels by the Late John H. Twachtman," Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., 1913. (Exh. cat. no. 29) "Panama Pacific International Exhibition," San Francisco, Calif., February 20 - December 4, 1915. (Exh. cat. no. 4051) "Fourth Annual Exhibition of Selected Paintings by American Artists," The Detroit Institute of Arts, Mich., 1918. (Exh. cat. no. 120) "Loan Exhibition, Fiftieth Anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y., 1920. (Exh. cat. p. 10) "Leaders of American Impressionism," The Brooklyn Museum, N.Y., 1937. (Exh. cat. no. 64) "Paintings by John H. Twachtman," The Milch Galleries, New York, N.Y., November 14 - December 3, 1949. (Exh. cat. no. 5) "The Controversial Century, 1850-1950: Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Provincetown, Mass., June 16 - September 3, 1962; The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, September 28 - November 4, 1962. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. (Exh. cat. p. 166) "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N.Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exh. cat. no. 34) "Connecticut and American Impressionism," University of Connecticut, The William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, Conn., March 17 - May 30, 1980; Hurlbutt Gallery, Greenwich, Conn., March 20 - May 31, 1980; The Art Colony at Old Lyme, Conn., March 21 - June 21, 1980. "John Twachtman: American Impressionist," Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, June 6 - September 5, 1999; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pa., October 16, 1999 - January 2, 2000; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga., February 26 - May 21, 2000. "The Golden Age of American Impressionists," Heckscher Museum, Huntington, N.Y., November 22, 2003 - January 31, 2004. "American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013. "American Impressionism in the Garden," Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, February 19 - May 14, 2017. Published ReferencesCharles F. Comfort and William S.A. Dale, _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_, exh. cat., Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Mass., 1962, not paged. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 166. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya, _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_, exh. cat., Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1978, no. 34. _Connecticut and American Impressionism: A Cooperative Exhibition Project Concurrently in Three Locations_, exh. cat., The William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, Conn., 1980, 103, 111, no. 148. ISBN: 0918386322 _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_, (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 93. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, and Kathleen A. Pyne, _John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes_, exh. cat., Washington, D.C., 1989, 37, fig. 26. ISBN: 0894681370, 0810916711 Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991),156-157, pl. 121. ISBN: 0-940744-59-7, 0-940744-62-7 Lisa N. Peters, _John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist_, exh. cat., High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Ga., 1999, 150-152, plate 53. ISBN: 1555951783 Susan G. Larkin, _The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore_, exh. cat., National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y., 2001, 120-121, fig. 70. ISBN: 0300088523, 1887149066 William H. Gerdts, with essays by Carol Lowrey, _The Golden Age of American Impressionism_, exh. cat., Heckscher Museum, Huntington, N.Y., 2003, 67, 70, 123, plate 28. ISBN: 0823020932 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 134-135, no. 84. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6