Childe Hassam is among the most important figures of the American Impressionist movement, and this pastel is a significant example of his early impressionist style. The vibrantly hued work was composed after Hassam returned to the United States following his years in France, and its bold lines and energetic brushwork signify the culmination of the French Impressionists' influence on the young painter. Furthermore, it represents a highly personal subject for the artist, as it captures the son of his close friend and fellow artist Ross Sterling Turner.
After Hassam left France in 1889, he visited the island of Appledore, nestled among the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. He was lured there by the poet Celia Thaxter, who had established an informal salon that included a number of distinguished writers, musicians, and artists, including Sterling Turner, J. Appleton Brown and Arthur Quartley. Hassam would return to the Isles of Shoals each summer until about 1916, and it was on Appledore where he composted some of his most successful works. During the summer of 1890, Hassam created this portrait of Turner's son, revealing the intimacy of the group of artists who worked together in the intellectual and artistic atmosphere of Thaxter's salon.
The work is one of just four pastels that Hassam created of children during the 1890s. Two others are held in private collections, while the fourth is currently in the collection of the Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, MA).
A pioneer of American Impressionism, Hassam’s subjects are both nostalgic and vibrant, and today are considered among the best of turn-of-the-century American art. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Hassam began his artistic career as a freelance illustrator, working for nation-wide publications such as Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s Monthly, and The Century. His first solo exhibition of watercolors took place in Boston in 1883, and he quickly catapulted onto the international scene, winning a bronze medal at the Exposition Universale in Paris in 1889, the same year this work was created.
Hassam would receive numerous other awards over the course of his career, most notably the Gold Medal for Distinguished Services to Fine Art from the American Dealers Association. A true master, Hassam depicted a way of life characteristic of both American and French society, and his work represents an important chapter in American art history.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work by S.P. Feld and K.M. Burnside.
Dated 1890
