Hassam’s July 4th Postcard

“The Fourth of July”, 1916, by Childe Hassam. Frederick Childe Hassam, 1859-1935, known to all as simply ‘Childe’, was a pioneer of American Impressionism and perhaps the most devoted, prolific, and successful practitioner. He caught the spirit of the new painting in Paris in the late 1880’s while most of his compatriots were still ignoring it. He contributed to the full flowering of American Impressionism in the United States in the 1890’s and rode the great wave of enthusiasm for the style to fame and fortune. Specializing in genteel New York street scenes and bucolic New England landscapes, Hassam epitomized that response. He was a distinctive and complex artist and had a fifty-year career of ceaseless activity.