John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902)
Connecticut Shore, Winter, c. 1889
Oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 30”
Signed posthumously lower left

Twachtman, leader of the art colony at Cos Cob, did not develop his mature style, for which he is best known, until after he painted this scene. This is probably the harbor at Bridgeport, where he first worked in 1888. In Munich he had developed a bravura manner with lights and darks. A paler-colored period of refined Whistlerian abstraction followed.

This painting retains the asymmetrical design favored by Whistler and the Impressionists but is painted directly with a spontaneous, self-assured verve that boldly summarizes the bulk and rigging of the ships. Connecticut Impressionists were keenly aware of seasonal changes, and several painted winter scenes. Many of Twachtman’s finest landscapes are snow pieces.