3 Good Things (Frederick Childe Hassam edition)
Yesterday, July 14, I received this timely piece of art via email from the Metropolitan Museum. It looked remarkably like a Christmas card we sent out years ago – from the painting style right down to the Mansard roof buildings—but the flags were American, the city was New York, and it was winter! I had to find out if the artist had created that particular image as well.
I’m sorry to say, although I found Childe Hassam's interesting flag series, the Christmas card image was not among them. The sorry part comes from the time I spent searching for it for naught; however I did come across some of his other paintings that I found noteworthy (as well as information about his contributions to American art in general).
Here are three of them: The first is a favorite from my youth, the second cements my fascination with his use of light in transforming urban life, and the third is reminiscent of another long-time favorite.
While I’m not a big fan of his human figures, the man sure can paint an evocative street scene!
Enjoy.
Boston Common at Twilight, 1886
A City Fairyland, 1886
July Night, 1898
Comments
I've known about him for a long time due his painting, Boston Common at Twilight, but I had no idea he had such an extensive body of work.