Finally, in The New York Bouquet: West Forty-Second Street, 1917, Hassam shows the culmination of the wealth and technological power of America by portraying a feat of engineering, one of the first modern skyscrapers, framed by the flags. He depicts in this painting Forty Second Street, an area with famous high-rises like the Astor Trust Building and the Times Square Building, as well as the main branch of the New York Public Library and Byrant Park. Here, the flags seem almost secondary to the skyscraper in the center of the picture and the angle of the waving French flag even points to the building so that attention is drawn to the majesty of the architecture and its height, as it towers over everything else in the picture, including the flags of other nations. Thus, the building comes to symbolize the height of American affluence and power, evoking a sense of national pride. Indeed, in The New York Bouquet: West Forty-Second Street, Hassam paints the Bush Terminal Building, a high-rise for the offices of the Bush Terminal oil company that was being completed when he was making this picture (Fort, Flag Paintings, 54). At thirty stories, this building was the tallest structure in the Times Square district, and it was an accomplishment of American engineering when constructed, as its height is ten times its width (Cooper, 229). During the time in which Hassam worked, the skyscraper was considered the thing “that most drastically transformed the city and made it a truly modern, American metropolis” (Fort, New York, X) and so the skyscraper became a sign of influence and prosperity, because, in order to build such a tall edifice, a company or nation had to have a large amount of money and engineering power. Therefore, by showing the Bush Terminal Building, a symbol of affluence and technological strength, highlighted by the flags in this painting, Hassam was able to evoke a feeling of patriotic pride.
Image
Childe Hassam. The New York Bouquet: West Forty-Second Street, 1917. 1917. Private collection.