San Miniato Hills (140m - 459 ft))
Italy (Tuscanny)
In San Miniato Hills, 1892, oil on painting, 22 x 48cm, Private collection, New York
The hills
San
Miniato sits at an historically strategic location atop three small
hills (140m - 459 ft) where it dominates the lower Arno valley, between the
valleys of Egola and Elsa rivers. Miniato is a town in the province
of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, ItalyIt used to carry the additional
sobriquet al Tedesco ("to the German") to distinguish it from the
convent of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, which is about 40
kilometres (25 mi) to the northeast. In medieval times, San Miniato was
on the via Francigena, which was the main connecting route between
northern Europe and Rome. It also sits at the intersection of the
Florence-Pisa and the Lucca-Siena roads. Over the centuries San Miniato
was therefore exposed to a constant flow of friendly and hostile armies,
traders in all manner of goods and services, and other travelers from
near and far. Archaeological evidence indicates that the site of the
city and surrounding area has been settled since at least the
paleolithic era. It would have been well known to the Etruscans, and
certainly to the Romans, for whom it was a military post called
"Quarto".
The painter
John Henry Twachtman was an
American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his
painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians
consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the
more personal and experimental of his generation. Twachtman was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio and received his first art training there, including
studying under Frank Duveneck.
Like some white artists of means and European heritage of the era,
Twachtman then proceeded to Europe to further his education. He enrolled
in the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1875 and visited Venice with
Duveneck and William Merritt Chase
in 1878. His landscapes from this time exhibit the loosely brushed,
shadowy technique taught at Munich. Twachtman also learned etching, and
sometimes carried etching plates with him that he could use to
spontaneously record a scene. After a brief return to America,
Twachtman studied from 1883 to 1885 at the Académie Julian in Paris, and
his paintings dramatically shifted towards a soft, gray and green
tonalist style. During this time he painted what some art historians
consider to be his greatest masterpieces, including Arques-la-Bataille,
in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and
Springtime, in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum. In 1886 he
returned to America. In 1890, he bought a farm in Greenwich. He often
painted and exhibited with fellow artist Julian Alden Weir,
and spent considerable time at the art colony in Cos Cob. His presence
was vital to the colony. In addition to his oil paintings, Twachtman
produced drawings in pastel. He taught painting at the Art Students
League from 1889 until his death in 1902. Twachtman was close friends
with Julian Alden Weir and the two often painted together. In
Connecticut his painting style shifted again, this time to a highly
personal impressionist technique. Twachtman painted many landscapes of
his farm and garden in Greenwich, often depicting the snow-covered
landscape. He executed dozens of paintings of a small waterfall on his
property, capturing the scene in different seasons and times of day. In
the summers of 1900–1902, Twachtman visited Gloucester, Massachusetts,
another center of artistic activity in the era, and produced a series of
vibrant scenes that anticipated a more modernist style yet to gain
prominence in American art. Twachtman died suddenly in Gloucester of a
brain aneurysm, aged 49. Today, his works are in many museum
collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
___________________________________________
2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
No comments:
Post a Comment