Reflections
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
When he undertook this view along the banks of the Niagara River, the American Impressionist John Henry Twachtman was attentive to the example of the French Impressionist Claude Monet, whose works were at the time becoming increasingly popular in the United States.
Both artists were passionate about Japanese prints—an interest evident in this scene’s flat space and asymmetrical arrangement of dramatic diagonals such as the pier and the poplar-lined riverbank. The artist’s use of a square format served to emphasize the two-dimensionality of the compositional design.
Caption
John Henry Twachtman (American, 1853–1902). Reflections, ca. 1893–1894. Oil on canvas, frame: 42 1/16 × 42 3/8 × 3 in. (106.8 × 107.6 × 7.6 cm) 29 13/16 × 29 15/16 in. (75.7 × 76.1 cm) frame: 42 × 42 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (106.7 × 108 × 7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 44.42. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Reflections
Date
ca. 1893–1894
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
frame: 42 1/16 × 42 3/8 × 3 in. (106.8 × 107.6 × 7.6 cm) 29 13/16 × 29 15/16 in. (75.7 × 76.1 cm) frame: 42 × 42 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (106.7 × 108 × 7 cm)
Signatures
Signed lower right: "JH Twachtman--"
Credit Line
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
44.42
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
The Impressionist movement got its start in Paris in the 1870s. American painters, like Twatchman, who traveled to France were inspired by the work of Monet and his contemporaries and developed their own, American Impressionist style.The scene we see here is based on a pier on the Niagara River where Twatchman visited in 1893 or 94. The Impressionist style is characterized by a focus on the effects of light on the surfaces captured by the artist.
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