John Henry Twachtman (1853–1902) was an American artist. Twachtman was one of the Ten American Painters, formed in 1898, and participated in the development of American Impressionist landscape painting. His approach remained personal, with colour and surface often taking precedence over a crisply described view. Repeated attention to the landscape near his Connecticut home offered a setting for that exploration. Icebound draws the viewer towards the meeting of snow and water, where closely related colours and curving edges make the scene both quiet and active.
During his final decade Twachtman repeatedly painted the landscape around his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. He found winter conducive to reflection and renewal. In Icebound, dense paint and curving edges connect the accumulated snow with the water’s dark, moving surface.
The selected pictures
Icebound: Snow-covered rocks surround a pool of cold blue-green water. Twachtman’s light brushwork lets the edges of land and water merge within the wintry atmosphere.
A painted surface offers more than a collection of depicted objects. Changes in the density of colour, the direction of a brush mark and the softness of an edge help establish where the eye pauses and where it moves on. A dark passage can give a neighbouring light greater presence; a barely stated form can connect two more solid ones. Compare the main subject with one quieter area around it, then return to the whole arrangement. This approach makes colour and handling part of the encounter, alongside the narrative or landscape that the painting brings into view.
Looking closely
Snow, water and changing surfaces held in a quiet field of closely related colour.
Begin with the largest forms, then follow the smaller marks that connect them. In Icebound, compare the subject with the space around it and the way light moves between them. Return to the complete picture after looking at a detail: its effect depends on the relationship of those parts, and the arrangement often reveals something different on a second visit.
Art to live with.
Fine-art prints on 200 gsm paper. Choose unframed or explore the available frame finishes, in a size that suits your space.
