TWACHTMAN, JOHN HENRY

born Aug. 4, 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. died Aug. 8, 1902, Gloucester, Mass. painter and etcher, one of the first American Impressionists. Twachtman went to Munich in 1875 to study painting and adopted the broad brushwork and warmly dark tonal colouring of the Munich school. Later, he studied at the Julian Academy in Paris, where he came into contact with Impressionism and began to paint with broken dabs of colour. Unsuccessful at first, he supported himself after 1889 by teaching at the Art Students League in New York City. From that year also, his lyrical interpretation of landscape attained its maturity. He preferred painting scenes of nature veiled in cool, shimmering lighte.g., The White Bridge. Among his best-known works are winter or early spring landscapes with delicate high-keyed colour and strong underlying formal constructione.g., Hemlock Pool (c. 1902). Twachtman was also prominent among The Ten, a group of American painters exhibiting independently of the National Academy of Design from 1895 onward.