Summer Trees
John Henry Twachtman·1887
Historical Context
John Henry Twachtman was among the most technically refined of the American Impressionists — his later Cos Cob, Connecticut landscapes pushing toward an atmospheric near-abstraction that placed him closer to Monet's late series paintings than any other American painter. 'Summer Trees' (1887) belongs to his transitional period between his European training and his mature American Impressionist style — the atmospheric dissolution of solid forms into light and color already evident in his treatment of the familiar American landscape subject.
Technical Analysis
Twachtman renders the summer trees with his characteristic atmospheric sensitivity — the trees' forms dissolved somewhat by the quality of summer light and atmospheric moisture, the edges between foliage and sky handled with the tonal softness that distinguished his approach from the more assertive American Impressionists. His palette in summer subjects tends toward warm greens and yellows, the season's chromatic character rendered through the specific quality of sunlight through foliage.
