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Lot Essay
This pictorial sequence constitutes one of the greatest achievements of American art.William H. GerdtsIn an acclaimed series executed between 1916 and 1919, Childe Hassam celebrated the ubiquitous flags that infused the New York City streets with an atmosphere of nationalistic pride during the difficult years of World War I. Today, Hassam’s flag paintings are widely considered to be masterpieces of 20th Century art. Sixteen examples are housed in prominent museum collections, notably including The White House, the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. With a trio of brilliant American, British and French flags as its visual and emotional focal point, Across the Avenue in Sunlight movingly evokes an enduring spirit of hope and international cooperation, even in the face of some of history’s darkest hours.
Hassam was first inspired to paint his seminal flag series following the Preparedness Parade of May 13, 1916. This parade was the first important public demonstration of the United States' involvement with Europe just prior to the nation's entry into the War in April 1917. Spanning from 23rd Street to 58th Street along Fifth Avenue in New York, the parade lasted almost thirteen hours and more than 137,000 civilian marchers participated. At the time, Hassam’s studio was located in close proximity to the end of the parade route at 130 West 57th Street, and the artist recounted some years later, “I painted the flag series after we went to war. There was that Preparedness Day, and I looked up the Avenue and saw these wonderful flags waving, and I painted the series of flag pictures after that” (interview by Dewitt McClellan Lockman, 2 February 1927, quoted in I.S. Fort, op. cit.,1988, p. 8).
Mr. Hassam has done for the flag what Monet did for the haystack.
The New York Times, November 17, 1918
Beginning in May 1917, the streets of New York were festooned with not only American flags, but also the flags of Great Britain and France during the visits of their Allied war commissioners. Fort explains, “New York gave each commissioner an official welcome that included receptions and parades and decorated the city in their honor…The entire month of May was devoted to celebrating Anglo-French-American cooperation” (ibid., p. 46). Hassam painted what is acknowledged to be his “most famous flag painting” (ibid.), Allies Day, May 1917 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), to celebrate the three nations’ collaboration. The artist stated, “I want the picture dedicated to the British and French nations commemorating the coming together of the three peoples in the fight for Democracy” (W. Adelson, J.E. Cantor and W.H. Gerdts, op. cit., 1999, p. 218).
I want the picture dedicated to the British and French nations commemorating the coming together of the three peoples in the fight for Democracy.
Childe Hassam
Hassam featured the three flags of the U.S., Britain and France side by side in multiple other works from the series, including Avenue of the Allies (1917, Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia) and The Union Jack, April Morning (1918, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.). The present version features the trio in a rare horizontal composition from the series that employs a slightly angled perspective to allow the flags to truly take centerstage in the composition, rather than falling in from the edges of the scene. The only other horizontal work in the core series is Allied Flags, Union League Club, April 1917 (Whitney Museum of American Art).
This canvas has the distinction of being one of the few horizontal flag paintings. As with Allied Flags, April 1917, 1917, Hassam depicted a well-known building and focused on it almost to the total exclusion of other structures.
While Hassam directly references collaboration between America and France with the flags in the current work, his flag series also likely draws inspiration from the work of the French Impressionists. Hassam’s interest in flag subjects first began during his years in France in the late 1880s when he saw Bastille Day banners displayed in the Montmartre area where he lived. Hassam explored the theme in both watercolor and oil paintings, following in the tradition of Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro’s parade pictures. The lingering influence of the French Impressionist style can be seen throughout Hassam's flag series and is evident in the vivid, broken brushwork of the present work.
The reference to other artists is also more literal in Across the Avenue in Sunlight, as the building depicted was from 1911 to 1925 the home of Knoedler Gallery, located at 556 Fifth Avenue, just south of 46th Street. Christopher Gray writes, “This was the era when collectors shifted their focus to old masters, which dealers gave very contemporary prices. Knoedler’s new limestone building had the aspect of an Italian palazzo, but one that you might find in London in the early 1800s. The stone walls of the magnificent ground floor were vermiculated, shot through with wormlike trails, completely au courant for Fifth Avenue.” (“When Elegance Sold Art,” New York Times, March 8, 2012) The McKim, Mead and White designed Beaux-Arts structure was indeed well known by the art world of the era. Indeed, The Touchstone critic described this work in July 1919:
“Just in front of Knoedler’s Art Gallery a striking group of the flags of three great nations are seen floating above the head of passers-by as though promising protection, shielding from danger.”
Just in front of Knoedler’s Art Gallery a striking group of the flags of three great nations are seen floating above the head of passers-by as though promising protection, shielding from danger.The Touchstone, July 1919
A contemporary critic proclaimed, “Mr. Hassam has done for the flag what Monet did for the haystack—shown it under all conceivable conditions of atmosphere and made beautiful by the caress of light” (quoted in H. Barbara Weinberg, “Hassam in New York, 1897-1919” in Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New York, 2004, p. 217). As underscored by the work’s title, in the present example, “The sunlight appears to have a stronger effect here than in any of the other flag paintings…Hassam clearly conveyed the vibrancy of the strong summer sun as it lit up the stone building by using highly saturated deep blues and violets for shadows and intensifying the hues of the warm colors. As a result, the glint of yellow on the limestone causes the entire facade to flicker, dazzling the eye as if it were blinded by the sun.” (I.S. Fort, op. cit.,1988, pp. 68, 86)
The sunlight appears to have a stronger effect here than in any of the other flag paintings…
Ilene S. Fort
Across the Avenue in Sunlight is indeed a dazzling and spirited work from Childe Hassam’s most acclaimed series, preserving with fervor and spirit the essential themes of democracy, liberty and international collaboration. As Dr. William H. Gerdts declares of Hassam’s flag series, “It was in these works that he was able to give the modern cityscape patriotic and spiritual resonance. This pictorial sequence constitutes one of the greatest achievements of American art” (W. Adelson, J.E. Cantor and W.H. Gerdts, “Three Themes: For God and Country” op. cit., 1999, p. 222).
Hassam was first inspired to paint his seminal flag series following the Preparedness Parade of May 13, 1916. This parade was the first important public demonstration of the United States' involvement with Europe just prior to the nation's entry into the War in April 1917. Spanning from 23rd Street to 58th Street along Fifth Avenue in New York, the parade lasted almost thirteen hours and more than 137,000 civilian marchers participated. At the time, Hassam’s studio was located in close proximity to the end of the parade route at 130 West 57th Street, and the artist recounted some years later, “I painted the flag series after we went to war. There was that Preparedness Day, and I looked up the Avenue and saw these wonderful flags waving, and I painted the series of flag pictures after that” (interview by Dewitt McClellan Lockman, 2 February 1927, quoted in I.S. Fort, op. cit.,1988, p. 8).
Mr. Hassam has done for the flag what Monet did for the haystack.
The New York Times, November 17, 1918
Beginning in May 1917, the streets of New York were festooned with not only American flags, but also the flags of Great Britain and France during the visits of their Allied war commissioners. Fort explains, “New York gave each commissioner an official welcome that included receptions and parades and decorated the city in their honor…The entire month of May was devoted to celebrating Anglo-French-American cooperation” (ibid., p. 46). Hassam painted what is acknowledged to be his “most famous flag painting” (ibid.), Allies Day, May 1917 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), to celebrate the three nations’ collaboration. The artist stated, “I want the picture dedicated to the British and French nations commemorating the coming together of the three peoples in the fight for Democracy” (W. Adelson, J.E. Cantor and W.H. Gerdts, op. cit., 1999, p. 218).
I want the picture dedicated to the British and French nations commemorating the coming together of the three peoples in the fight for Democracy.
Childe Hassam
Hassam featured the three flags of the U.S., Britain and France side by side in multiple other works from the series, including Avenue of the Allies (1917, Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, Georgia) and The Union Jack, April Morning (1918, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.). The present version features the trio in a rare horizontal composition from the series that employs a slightly angled perspective to allow the flags to truly take centerstage in the composition, rather than falling in from the edges of the scene. The only other horizontal work in the core series is Allied Flags, Union League Club, April 1917 (Whitney Museum of American Art).
This canvas has the distinction of being one of the few horizontal flag paintings. As with Allied Flags, April 1917, 1917, Hassam depicted a well-known building and focused on it almost to the total exclusion of other structures.
While Hassam directly references collaboration between America and France with the flags in the current work, his flag series also likely draws inspiration from the work of the French Impressionists. Hassam’s interest in flag subjects first began during his years in France in the late 1880s when he saw Bastille Day banners displayed in the Montmartre area where he lived. Hassam explored the theme in both watercolor and oil paintings, following in the tradition of Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro’s parade pictures. The lingering influence of the French Impressionist style can be seen throughout Hassam's flag series and is evident in the vivid, broken brushwork of the present work.
The reference to other artists is also more literal in Across the Avenue in Sunlight, as the building depicted was from 1911 to 1925 the home of Knoedler Gallery, located at 556 Fifth Avenue, just south of 46th Street. Christopher Gray writes, “This was the era when collectors shifted their focus to old masters, which dealers gave very contemporary prices. Knoedler’s new limestone building had the aspect of an Italian palazzo, but one that you might find in London in the early 1800s. The stone walls of the magnificent ground floor were vermiculated, shot through with wormlike trails, completely au courant for Fifth Avenue.” (“When Elegance Sold Art,” New York Times, March 8, 2012) The McKim, Mead and White designed Beaux-Arts structure was indeed well known by the art world of the era. Indeed, The Touchstone critic described this work in July 1919:
“Just in front of Knoedler’s Art Gallery a striking group of the flags of three great nations are seen floating above the head of passers-by as though promising protection, shielding from danger.”
Just in front of Knoedler’s Art Gallery a striking group of the flags of three great nations are seen floating above the head of passers-by as though promising protection, shielding from danger.The Touchstone, July 1919
A contemporary critic proclaimed, “Mr. Hassam has done for the flag what Monet did for the haystack—shown it under all conceivable conditions of atmosphere and made beautiful by the caress of light” (quoted in H. Barbara Weinberg, “Hassam in New York, 1897-1919” in Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New York, 2004, p. 217). As underscored by the work’s title, in the present example, “The sunlight appears to have a stronger effect here than in any of the other flag paintings…Hassam clearly conveyed the vibrancy of the strong summer sun as it lit up the stone building by using highly saturated deep blues and violets for shadows and intensifying the hues of the warm colors. As a result, the glint of yellow on the limestone causes the entire facade to flicker, dazzling the eye as if it were blinded by the sun.” (I.S. Fort, op. cit.,1988, pp. 68, 86)
The sunlight appears to have a stronger effect here than in any of the other flag paintings…
Ilene S. Fort
Across the Avenue in Sunlight is indeed a dazzling and spirited work from Childe Hassam’s most acclaimed series, preserving with fervor and spirit the essential themes of democracy, liberty and international collaboration. As Dr. William H. Gerdts declares of Hassam’s flag series, “It was in these works that he was able to give the modern cityscape patriotic and spiritual resonance. This pictorial sequence constitutes one of the greatest achievements of American art” (W. Adelson, J.E. Cantor and W.H. Gerdts, “Three Themes: For God and Country” op. cit., 1999, p. 222).