This painting "Chateau Near Dieppe" sold for $20,000 at Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia, Sunday, June 22, 2008. It is oil on panel and measures 12 x 15 x 7/8 inches and comes from a private Philadelphia collection. Originally purchased from Spanierman Gallery in New York, it is fully documented and authenticated. Spanierman is the leading authority and dealer of Twachtman's work.To bid or to view listing go to:http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/110-JOHN-HENRY-TWACHTMAN-AMERICAN-1853-1902_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ28243QQihZ004QQitemZ140235452801QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVWJohn Henry Twachtman (August 4, 1853 - August 8, 1902) was an American painter best-known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation. He was a member of "The Ten", a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically-unified group.Landscape artist John Henry Twachtman was one of the most original and modern artists of the late nineteenth century. Trained in Munich and Paris, and a member of the most advanced American artist groups of his day, Twachtman was at the forefront of the American avant-garde throughout his career. The work of his Greenwich Period, for which he is best known, was influenced by Impressionism and Tonalism, yet Twachtman's stylistic synthesis was unique. Often compared with Claude Monet and James McNeill Whistler, Twachtman developed an experimental technique and explored innovative compositional means to create subtle and poetic images that anticipated directions in twentieth-century abstract painting.Like many other artists of his generation, Twachtman felt the necessity of a term of study in Paris, and, in 1883, he departed for the French capital, where he continued his training at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. His fellow students included American artists Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Frank W. Benson, Edmund C. Tarbell, and Robert Reid, all of whom became lifelong friends. During his summers abroad, Twachtman painted near Honfleur and Dieppe, in Normandy, and at the end of his sojourn in the winter of 1885, he spent time in Venice with Robert Blum. Influenced by his training as well as by the art of James McNeill Whistler, that of the French pleinairiste Jules Bastien-Lepage, and by Japanese prints, his work changed during his French period; his palette remained low-key, but his tones became more closely modulated and his brushwork became fluid and large not apparent. His paintings dramatically shifted towards a soft, gray and green tonalist style. During this time he painted what some art historians consider to be his greatest masterpieces, including Arques-la-Bataille, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Springtime, in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum.Freeman's is America's oldest auction house and is located at 1808 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215)-563-9275 www.freemansauction.comSale 1311 Lot 110 June 22, 2008JOHN HENRY TWACHTMAN(american 1853-1902)CHATEAU NEAR DIEPPEOil on canvas12 x 15 3/8 in.Executed circa 1884provenance:The artist.Violet Twachtman Baker, daughter of the artist, New York.Martha Baker, daughter of Violet Baker, Italy.By family descent.Spanierman Gallery, New York, New York.Private Collection, Pennsylvania.note:This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of John Henry Twachtman by Ira Spanierman and Dr. Lisa N. Peters.Estimate $20,000-30,000
