Childe Hassam was America’s foremost impressionist painter, and this original oil on canvas is arguably among the finest of his works. The sheer grandeur, coveted subject matter, and masterful composition of the piece, entitled Ten Pound Island, easily commands attention. Painted by Hassam at the very peak of his ability, the work was also once part of the distinguished Jack Warner Foundation, a legendary collection of American art. Rarely are works of this caliber, with such impeccable provenance and exhibition history, found on the market today.
Hassam’s work from the late 19th century is considered the best of his oeuvre. He returned to New England in 1889 after a long trip to Paris, where he found himself immersed in and greatly influenced by the impressionist aesthetic. Adapting the modern French style to his own American artistic sensibilities, he developed the unique brand of American impressionism for which he is so celebrated today. One of Hassam's largest canvases from before the turn of the century, Ten Pound Island represents this pivotal moment in the artist's career. While heavily influenced by the French painters of the day, Hassam truly had come into his own stylistically.
Hassam was acclaimed for both his impressionistic landscapes and portraiture, though only rarely did he combine his skill in both genres in the same painting. This work, however, depicts two women - presumably Hassam’s wife, Kathleen Maude Doane, and her sister - in a quintessentially New England setting. The domestic tableau overlooks a view of Ten Pound Island in Gloucester Harbor, one of Hassam's favorite destinations to paint. The artist's skillful attention to the subtleties of light and color, rendered with his famed staccato brushwork, make this work a true technical feat.
The painting also boasts a stellar provenance, having belonged to notable private collections including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Tanenbaum Collection in New York, and most prestigiously, the famed private collection of Jack Warner. The owner of Gulf States Paper, Jack Warner (1918-2017) was a legend in the American art world. He searched the world for the finest examples of American art and was known to pay any price in order to own the very best. In 2010, he received the prestigious Frederic Edwin Church Award in recognition of his superb collection of American art. That Warner included the present work in his award-winning collection is a testament to its status as an American masterpiece.
Works of this caliber by Hassam are rarely seen on the market, as the vast majority are held in museums around the world. Ten Pound Island itself has been displayed in exhibitions at numerous museums, including the Birmingham Museum of Art and the New Bedford Museum of 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 year before the present work was created, he received the Webb Prize from the Society of American Artists for another landscape painted at Gloucester. 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 elucidates an important chapter in American art history.
