Boulevard Rochechouart, Paris (Springtime)

Executed with a bright, sunlit palette and characteristically vivacious brushwork, Boulevard Rochechouart, Paris exemplifies Childe Hassam's continued engagement with the French city following his three year stay the decade prior. By the time Hassam completed the present work, he had begun to receive critical acclaim for his maturing work, as was noted by a critic from the New York Times, "few of our native painters have succeeded in so many directions. Sea, landscape, architecture, flowers, still life, animals and figures...He seems able to paint anything his fancy dictates. He can be as finished, as broad, as impressionist, as colorful as the best of them, and all at will." ("Pictures by Childe Hassam," New York Times, 2 February 1896, p. 21) Here, Hassam carefully captures a woman seated on a bench and overlooking the picturesque Boulevard Rochechouart in Paris' 18th arrondissement. Dominated by a sense of respite and calm despite the bustling street, the present work demonstrates Hassam's mastery and continued fascination with capturing modern life within the ever-burgeoning metropolis.