Childe Hassam: patterns of appreciation

Magazine Antiques, July, 2004 by H. Barbara Weinberg

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An exhibition entitled Childe Hassam, American Impressionist is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City until September 12. It comprises about 140 works of art by Hassam in various mediums. It was organized by H. Barbara Weinberg and was made possible by the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Bank of New York, and the Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund.

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(1) For a comprehensive account of the artist, see H. Barbara Weinberg et al., Childe Hassam, American Impressionist (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Yale University Press, New Haven, 2004).

(2) Jennifer A. Martin Bienenstock, "Childe Hassam's Early Boston Cityscapes," Arts Magazine, vol. 55 (November 1980), pp. 168-171.

(3) See Charles Benjamin Norton, Official Catalogue: Foreign Exhibition (Boston, 1883); Maureen C. O'Brien, In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition (Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, 1986); and Special Exhibition: Works in Oil and Pastel by the Impressionists of Paris (American Art Association and National Academy of Design, New York, 1886).

(4) A. E. Ives, "Talks with Artists: Mr. Childe Hassam on Painting Street Scenes," Art Amateur, vol. 27 (October 1892), p. 116.

(5) Other members of the Ten were Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919), John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902), and Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925), all New Yorkers who, along with Hassam were committed to impressionism; and Edmund Charles Tarbell (1862-1938), Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951), and Joseph R. DeCamp (1858-1923), all Bostonians who had experimented with the style but also painted portraits. After Twachtman's death, Chase replaced him in 1905 as a member of the Ten.

(6) DeWitt McClellan Lockman interview with Childe Hassam, February 2, 1927, p. 27 (DeWitt McClellan Lockman Papers, New-York Historical Society, New York City, microfilm at Archives of American Art. Washington, D.C., reel 503, frame 385).

(7) Childe Hassam, letter to "Miss Farmer, who was making a record of the Graduates of the Dorchester High School," New York, February 22, 1933, p. 5 (Childe Hassam papers and correspondence, 1883-1934, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City, microfilm at Archives of American Art, reel NAA1, frame 747).

(8) Hassam was a member of the following New York social clubs: Players (1890-1931); Lotos Club (at least 1909-1916 or 1917); Salmagundi Club (1900-1935); Coffee House (1916-1927; 1928-1935); and Union Club (1928-1935).

(9) See Catalogue of the Oil Paintings, Water Colors and Pastels by Childe Hassam to be sold ... February 6th and 7th at the American Art Galleries (American Art Association, New York, 1896); "First Night Sale of Hassam Pictures, Canvases Go for Little--Attendance Good, but Bidding Slow," New York Times, February 7, 1896, p. 3; and Ulrich W. Hiesinger, Childe Hassam, American Impressionist (Prestel, Munich and New York, 1994), pp. 102, 104.

(10) Ilene Susan Fort, The Flag Paintings of Childe Hassam (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1988), p. 112.