Congenial Spirits: Summer at Home

(Left) John Henry Twachtman, My Summer Studio, c. 1900. Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 30 1/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired 1919. (Right) John Henry Twachtman, Summer, late 1890's. Oil on canvas, 30 x 53 in.; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired 1919.

American impressionist John Henry Twachtman captures the atmosphere of his homes in Gloucester, Massachusetts (left) and Greenwich, Connecticut (right), in the thick of summer. A change in Twachtman’s style is immediately evident in these works created roughly ten years apart. The square format of My Summer Studio, the later of the two, reflects the artist’s interest in Japanese art, and the palette and brushwork is more intense. Both are on view with fellow American painters in the west parlor of the house.