Musée No:792.053
Regular price £15.00Storm Clouds
Artist: John Henry Twachtman
Date: 1880
John Henry Twachtman (1853 –1902) was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style moved towards Tonalism. He was said to be witty and irreverent, and he was known for playing practical jokes on unsuspecting friends. He was founding member of “The Ten”, with amongst others John Frank Weston Benson and Thomas Willmer Dewing, also included in our collection. Along with many of his contemporaries he moved to Europe for further training and spent two years in Munich. After a brief trip back to the States he moved to the Académie Julian (1883 -85) in Paris. His style shifted away from the browns of Munich to a soft, grey and green more abstract tonalist style. He was also deeply impressed by the painting of Whistler and the impressionists.
In 1886, he returned to Connecticut where he bought a farm in Greenwich. He captured many landscapes of his farm, garden and waterfall painting the scenes in different seasons and times of day. He became incredibly skilled at depicting winter scenes, more tonalist studies in whiteness. Twachtman continued to create etchings, drawings in pastel and taught painting at the Art Students League from 1889 onwards. He received a silver medal in painting at the Columbian Exposition; the same year, he also exhibited his work with Claude Monet at a New York gallery.