THE ARTIST John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902) American Impressionist Landscape Painter
THE TIMES
From the founding of America, artists looked to Europe for art training. They often began learning in American schools and then studied in Europe where they looked at works by Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary master artists. The young artists often returned to America to make art with American themes. Sometimes European art would be displayed in America. American Impressionism flourished after the work of French Impressionists was shown in Boston and New York during the 1880s. Many Americans were so impressed by the way light and bright colors were used that they took up a similar way of painting. Artists who loved the style would form colonies where they could share ideas, work, and be around other artists with the same interests. These colonies formed in areas where the scenery was beautiful, living was cheap, and the location was near large cities where artists could promote their work. American Impressionism was widely followed for forty years.
John Henry Twachtman began his study of art at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio. He then moved to Europe and received formal art training in Munich and Paris. As he moved around Europe, his landscapes changed. They began to look like the new style of Impressionism that he saw in Paris. Twachtman returned home to the United States and settled in Greenwich, Connecticut. He painted his farm and garden. He joined the well-known Cos Cob art colony. There, he taught, spoke, and greatly influenced the work of many artists at the time. His loose, quick style of painting continued to develop. Twachtman was known to challenge his skills by painting the same scene repeatedly at different times of day.
By now, you have built a color wheel by first locating the three primary colors. You mixed those to find the secondary colors. You mixed each primary with the secondary beside it to find the tertiary or in-between colors. This completed color wheel can now be used in special ways. Selecting any three colors that sit beside each other on this wheel, we get powerful arrangements called analogous colors. Today, I’d like you to make an artwork using an analogous color group. With your imagination, paint a picture of an object using a single group of three-analogous-colors shown above. The color group you choose can be used to fill in the object and the background of whatever subject that you decide to paint.
21
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator