The white bridge

John Henry Twachtman • Painting, 1890-th , 75×75 cm
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Landscape
Style of art: Impressionism
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: 1890-th
Size: 75×75 cm
Artwork in selections: 11 selections

Description of the artwork «The white bridge»

John Henry Twachtman admired the art of Claude Monet. Like his idol, Twachtman decided to settle in the countryside. In the footsteps of Monet and his haystacks since 1895, Twachtman has painted a small footbridge across the Horseneck Creek that flows through his Connecticut farm at least five times. Like Monet, he practised in depicting a selected object at different times of the year and day, from various angles and varying illumination (1, 2).

Certainly, Monet's seeries of Japanese bridges comes to mind, but the artist began his work on them a little later. In 1893, Twachtman’s paintings were shown in the exposition of the Gallery of American Art, which also included works by Claude Monet. Therefore, from the chronologic point of view, there was a great chance that the American could be inspired to paint his series precisely by the stacks of the Frenchman, and not by the bridges, the very first of which dates from 1896.

Feeling and sensitivity

It is rather difficult to trace the sequence of the cycle creation and the evolution of the artist’s style. He almost never dated his works and often gave them the same titles (in this case, he always titled it The White Bridge, and only once The Bridge). It is believed that they were all painted during the last five years of the 19th century. Despite the fact that all the canvases in the series clearly depict the same structure, the shape of the bridge still differs slightly. Twachtman shows it either absolutely straight, as in this example, or arched.

His approach had a peculiarity. Unlike Monet, who studied the technical side of the play of light and air, observed object changing depending on lighting conditions and weather (as in the case of the notorious haystacks and views of Rouen Cathedral), Twachtman was primarily interested in a subjective view of things that were deeply personal for him. That is why he chose for his landscapes not particularly spectacular, but personally significant views quite often.

It may sound paradoxical, but this approach won over the American critics of the time, who condemned Impressionism not even for boycotting the standards of classical painting, but for abandoning the social and spiritual aspects in favour of a fleeting momentary impression. Therefore, the excessive sentimentality and emotional attachment of Twachtman the artist to his land and its landscapes aroused the sympathy of contemporary opponents of the impressionist methods.

The forerunner of Instagram

The emergence of photography set painting free from the function of a realistic depiction of reality assigned to it. Now artists could not only afford to paint objects and scenes as they saw them, but also borrow techniques from photographers, such as cropping, for example. This allowed the Impressionists to tailor the composition to their tasks, because they felt critical to capture the fleeting fluctuations in movement and lighting.

Twachtman seems to have painted more square paintings than anyone else. Even though this artistic decision of his was picked up and supported by such European contemporaries as Gustav Klimt (see his square landscapes) and some of the younger generation of Twachtman’s American admirers, such as the artist Marsden Hartley.

Following his French Impressionist counterparts, Twachtman drew inspiration from the art of Japanese engraving, and from radial composition in particular. The architectonics of almost all his versions of The White Bridge is based on this principle: key elements diverge in all directions from the centre of the square “frame”, dividing it in diagonals. Whether it be the branches of a tree, the banks of a stream, the plane of the bridge itself or its reflection in the water — expanding, they simultaneously create the impression of a compressed, concentrated space.

Written by Natalia Azarenko


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