Nocturne

Details

CHILDE HASSAM (1859-1935)
Nocturne
signed with artist's crescent device 'Childe Hassam' (lower right)
pastel on paperboard
17 ¼ x 14 ½ in. (43.8 x 36.8 cm.)
Drawn circa 1891

Provenance

Estate of the artist.
Babcock Galleries, New York.
Joan and Lester Francis Avnet, New York (by 1969); sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 March 1976, lot 41.
Meredith Long & Company, Houston.
Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner, circa 1978.

Literature

Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., American Paintings III, New York, 1985, p. 78 (illustrated).

Exhibited

(probably) New York, Milch Galleries, 1948.
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Manchester, Currier Gallery of Art and New York, Gallery of Modern Art, Childe Hassam: A Retrospective Exhibition, April-December 1965, p. 36, no. 67.
New York Cultural Center, A Selection of Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Lester Francis Avnet, December 1969-January 1970, no. 51 (illustrated).

Further details

This painting will be included in Stuart P. Feld’s and Kathleen M. Burnside’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s work.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

In 1889, Hassam ventured to the remote island of Appledore nestled among the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. The present work likely depicts this iconic locale. By practically eliminating a foreground, Hassam focuses on the expanse of the sea, starkly illuminated by moonlight, making the work nearly abstract. Hassam's crepuscular scenes were deeply influenced by James McNeill Whistler's innovative Nocturnes and aesthetic theories regarding light discussed in the Ten O'Clock Lectures. In fact, Hassam's summer reading on Appledore included this well-known treatise. Much like Whistler, Hassam was not concerned with duplicating specific light in his twilight and nighttime works, but rather utilizing light to create a harmonious effect, as seen in this luminous pastel.

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