Lisa N. Peters
On walking into Ira’s office the other day, I noticed John Twachtman’s Little Giant (ca. 1900) facing his desk. This made me wonder why Ira would choose this painting for this spot. We know that the work depicts Gloucester’s Rocky Neck dock, where the ferry “Little Giant” made an intermediary stop on its route between Gloucester and East Gloucester. However, aside from the fascinating history of the subject, and Ira’s longstanding admiration for Twachtman’s art, I think Ira may have chosen to have this painting meet his gaze because it captures a particular moment and mood.
Painted with dark strokes applied with the scraping force of an action painter, the dock in the foreground stands out from the soft Whistlerian atmosphere of the rest of the work. Out of a pleasant recreational landscape, we’ve zoned in on this dilapidated structure that seems out of the way, isolated from the highly developed far shore. Sloping too steeply for a comfortable descent to the water, the Rocky Neck dock seems a place left behind by progress. It evokes an image of something old and beginning to deteriorate while newness grows up around it. The ferry still stops here, with passengers aboard, but we don’t see any waiting or disembarking. A few empty rowboats rest in the dark green shadows beneath the dock’s ramp, huddling as if to fend off corrosion due to lack of use. The diagonal of the shadows draws our eye to the ferry, making us aware that it’s in the process of moving on.
The painting seems to ask: what is our relationship with things that time has passed by? There’s both vitality and some sadness to the sprightly yet seemingly wobbly dock. It’s still here, but we imagine that soon it won’t be. The painting puts us in touch with ourselves and the world around us, and that may be why it stands opposite Ira’s desk.
Read more for information on the John Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné.
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