Although Hassam never attributed much of his artistic technique or style to visiting France, saying “I have to debunk the idea that I learned to paint in France. I learned to paint in Boston before I ever went to France.” (qtd. Hassam Hoopes, 11), when Hassam returned to the United States in 1889 and moved to New York, his works exhibited a concrete Impressionist style involving light and color (Weinberg, 5). In New York, the Hassams first lived in a studio apartment at 95 Fifth Avenue, right by Washington Square, and later, riding on the wave of wealth and affluence as Hassam’s works were being well-received, at 152 West 57th Street. During this period, Hassam painted his most famous cityscapes of New York City, exploring Central Park, Union Square and Washington Square in his paintings. As Hoopes writes, “[i]f Monet could take an ordinary street scene on the Boulevard des Capucines and make an interesting painting of it, so could Hassam paint New York’s Union Square, and thereby defy Charles Eliot Norton’s lament that ‘in America even the shadows are ugly’” (Hoopes, 14). Indeed, Hassam’s paintings portray
New York as a dynamic, emerging and beautiful city and “created a valuable iconography of the city during the complex first two decades of the twentieth century” (Weinberg, 203).
During the same period of time, Hassam also ventured to the New England coast in the summertime, visiting Appledore in New Hampshire (Hoopes, 15) and painting the idyllic view he saw there. So he set the pattern for the rest of his life, working in New York City in the winter and then in Appledore (and later East Hampton) in the summer although trips to Europe, Cuba, and the West were interspersed throughout (Hoopes, 15).
As time progressed, however, Hassam began to become disenchanted with New York City which was becoming a bustling, modern metropolis. He became increasingly detached, and this feeling of discontent was probably exacerbated by his heavy drinking (Weinberg, 18). He also felt that his exhibitions were constricted by the archaic and unaesthetic exhibition style of Society of American Artists and the National Academy of Design, which favored the display of as many paintings as possible in a given space. So Hassam helped to found the group, the Ten, in 1897 with other American Impressionist artists, agreeing to exhibit with one another and away from the Society (Hoopes, 15-16) and the Ten continued to work together until 1918, following World War I.
At around 1912, Hassam became interested in
etching and lithography and portrayed New York City and Easthampton in this medium for the rest of his life, only briefly returning to
painting during World War I to produce the flag series (Hoopes, 17). Museums and art dealers were more concerned with his etchings and lithographs during this period and he became known as less of a painter, as a graphic artist (Hoopes, 18). Hassam even remarked, “I began my career in the graphic arts, and I am ending it in the graphic arts” (qtd. Hassam, Hoopes 18) as he had begun his career as the apprentice to an engraver and ended it etching and practicing lithography.
Hassam continued to work up until the year of his death in 1935, and, even after his death, contributed to the world of art. He created The Hassam Fund, named in his wife’s honor, a fund that would finance future young artists by the periodic sale of all the works that he bequeathed to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Hoopes, 20). Indeed, Hassam continues to have an impact well beyond his death, not only financially through the Hassam Fund, but also artistically with his beautiful and evocative images.
Images (from top to bottom)
Arnold Genthe.
Hassam, Childe, Portrait Photograph. 1911-1935. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC.
Childe Hassam.
Little Old Cottage, Egypt Lane, East Hampton. 1917. Collection of the Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York.