Childe Hassam (1859-1935): Rebecca Rea, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Coordinator of School Group Visits.Boston Common
Boston Common is a popular public park in Boston, Massachusetts. Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. Its area is 50 acres (202,000 m²). at Twilight illustrates that despite the urbanization of late-nineteenth-century Boston, one can still find a sense of peace and serenity there. About the Painting The rosy hues of sunset provide a glowing, soft atmosphere and set the mood of Childe childe n. Archaic A child of noble birth. [Middle English childe, child, child; see child.] Hassam's painting Boston Common at Twilight. The central image of the painting is a woman with two children who have stopped on a snowy sidewalk to feed a flock of birds that has gathered on the Common. An orderly line of trees and the nearly empty park are covered in a layer of snow, framed by the colors of sunset. The family is facing away from a scene of urban activity, a scene that contrasts with the stillness of the park. Streetcars and gaslights line the busy street on the left of the painting and help us feel the commotion and chaos of city life. While this painting may evoke a feeling of nostalgia in modern viewers, during its time the painting illustrated the excitement of growth and urbanization in Boston. Ravaged rav·age v. rav·aged, rav·ag·ing, rav·ages v.tr. 1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate: A tornado ravaged the town. 2. by fire in 1872, much of Boston's downtown was reduced to rubble. Citizens worked quickly to rebuild the city. Hassam depicts the city about thirteen years after the area was destroyed. There is no evidence of the fire's destruction, only of the growth that resulted, as the city appears healthy and thriving. About the Artist As the subject of at least three museum exhibitions in 2004, Frederick Childe Hassam (1859-1935) is once again gaining recognition as a pioneering American Impressionist painter. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts Dorchester, including a large portion of today's Boston, was incorporated in 1630.[1] It was still primarily rural and had a population of 12,000 when annexed to Boston in 1870. , to a hardware merchant, he began his artistic career drawing and cutting commercial woodblock wood·block n. 1. See woodcut. 2. also wood block Music A hollow block of wood struck with a drumstick to produce percussive effects in an orchestra. illustrations. He made his first trip to Europe in 1883. When he returned to Boston, his work reflected a new interest in urban themes as well as the effects of light. Hassam painted Boston Common at Twilight in 1885-1886 while he worked at a studio located on Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. The name is a variation of one of the original appellations of the city, "Trimountaine," a reference to a hill that formerly had three peaks. Beacon Hill, with its single peak, is all that remains of the Trimountain. in Boston which overlooked the Boston Common. Undoubtedly, the view from his window inspired him. During this time, he created many different images of Boston, such as Rainy Day in Boston. In 1886, Hassam returned to Paris to complete further studies in painting. He studied briefly at the Academie Julien and supported himself by creating illustrations and by selling his artwork. Exposure to contemporary French painting inspired him to adopt an Impressionist style and subject matter, which would characterize his art for the rest of his career. In 1889, he won a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle, the first of thirty-five major awards that he won during his career. Hassam moved to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of that same year, where he met a number of other American Impressionist artists. Together, the group became known as "The Ten." Boston artists Frank Benson Frank Benson may refer to:
New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. landscapes, allegorical paintings, and prints. A Closer Look How do you think Childe Hassam felt about Boston and the Common? Why do you say that? How do the colors of the painting make you feel? What do you think Hassam says about this place in his painting? What do you notice most about this painting, the city, or the park? Why is that? Remarkably enough, visitors to Boston will recognize this spot today. In 1892, Hassam told A. E. Ives of American Artist, "I believe the man who will go down to posterity is the man who paints his own time and the scenes of every-day life around him." (Weinberg in Antiques Magazine, July 2004, p. 88). Do you agree with Hassam's belief? Why or why not? Do you think time has proven him right? Resources Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. Hoopes, Doneslon F. Childe Hassam. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1979. Stebbins, Theodore E., Carol Troyen, and Trevor J. Fairbrother. A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, and contains one of the largest permanent museum collections in the Americas. , 1983. Weinberg, H. Barbara. Childe Hassam, American Impressionist, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. |
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