Master Outdoor Painters
John Henry Twachtman
By Armand Cabrera

John Henry Twachtman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1852. His parents were German immigrants. As a teen, Twachtman worked with his father in a design firm producing window shades.  At 15, he became a part time student at the Ohio Mechanics Institute School of Design.  At the age of 20, Twachtman transferred to the McMicken School of Design.

Twachtman met artist, Frank Duveneck, in 1874 who had just returned from Munich after successfully studying at the Royal Academy.  Duveneck invited the younger Twachtman to share a studio with him and Henry Farny, another successful artist.  Duveneck encouraged Twachtman to further his studies in Germany. When Duveneck returned to Munich in 1875, Twachtman accompanied him.
 

Twachtman enrolled in the Munich Royal Academy.  In the spring of 1877, Twachtman met Duveneck and William Merritt Chase in Venice.  He painted with them for nine months.  Twachtman returned to America in 1878, settling in New York.  He participated in the first Society of American Artists Exhibition and was elected as a member to the Society in 1880.  He met the artists J. Alden Weir and R. Swain Gifford. They became friends and painting companions.

In 1881, Twachtman married Martha Scudder in Cincinnati and the couple honeymooned in Europe. Twachtman furthered his training in Paris and enrolled in the Academie Julian, studying under Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.

In 1886, Twachtman returned to America and worked as an illustrator while continuing his gallery commitments. He worked for Scribner’s Magazine from 1888 for the rest of his life.  Beginning in 1889, he also taught at the Art Students League in New York.  In 1890, Twachtman bought a house and land in Greenwich, Connecticut.  His property became the focus of many of his paintings.

In 1897, Twachtman became a founding member of the Ten American Painters. The other founding members were Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, Robert Reid, Willard Metcalf, Frank Weston Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Joseph DeCamp, and Edward Simmons. These artists were disillusioned with the direction of the Society of American Artists and formed their own group.

Twachtman embraced modern practices in his work as years went on.  His paintings became more poetic and less dependant on draughtsmanship.  He had a beautiful sense of color and a diaphanous approach with his tonal divisions. His brushwork loosened and he blended colors right on the canvas.  Rather than rendering details, Twachtman’s later approach focused on strong composition and interesting design.In 1902, at age 49, Twachtman died suddenly in Gloucester of a brain aneurysm.