Hassam explored using the flags to create a pictorial frame for the buildings in his paintings even more in Allies Day, May 1917. Allies Day, May 1917 serves as a prime example of the flags bordering and drawing attention to notable buildings, which are symbolic of American wealth and prosperity. In this painting, Hassam again presents a glimpse of the “millionaire row” of Fifth Avenue (Fort, New York, VI), showing a view of several New York landmarks that demonstrate the opulence of New York City, including Saint Thomas’s Episcopal Church, and the University Club in the background. While there are more flags here than in his earlier pictures, they clearly provide a colored frame for the buildings as they border the entire right and bottom edges of the painting. The angled nature of the flags and flagpoles even seem to point out the buildings to the viewer as if to indicate that they are the focus of the picture. Indeed, the level of detail for presenting the façades of the edifices almost alone makes them seem dignified and enables them to serve as markers of America’s emerging status as a powerful nation, even without recognizing what institutions were housed in them.
Considering which institutions were located in these elaborate edifices strengthens their status as patriotic symbols, as they represent once again the wealth and influence of the city. Saint Thomas’s Church, portrayed in the large white castle-like building, was already known as “one of the most imposing architectural features of the city” with a fine interior, and as “a church for the wealthy” (King, 320) so it may stand as a marker for New York’s, and thus, America’s, prosperity, stirring up national sentiment. Hassam also portrays the University Club farther down the block, an institution created in 1865 for “the promotion of literature and art” for its members, a group that was composed of college graduates, distinguished men who received honorary degrees and graduates of the Army and Naval academies, and that represented the richest and most prominent members of society (King, 509). So, both of these institutions, with their affluent membership, serve to remind the viewer of the growing wealth and influence of America with their buildings pointed out and highlighted by the flags in this painting.
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Childe Hassam. Allies Day, May 1917. 1917. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.