California series by Childe Hassam

The California series by Childe Hassam is a series of approximately 28 works based on American Impressionist Childe Hassam's visits to Northern California at least three times, in 1904, 1908, and 1914, and Southern California at least once in 1927. The works between 1904 and 1914 feature images from the San Francisco Bay Area, while the 1927-28 works feature images from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara. ^[1] Out of his approximately 4000 works, Hassam's focus on California is relatively small, with only 12 major California paintings completed between 1914 and 1919. Additional minor works in the series include approximately 16 or so etchings from 1916 to 1928. Most of the works made in 1928 were based on drawings from 1927. ^[2] 11 of the 12 California paintings were created in 1914 and first exhibited as part of the "California Group" of 106 paintings total in the Exhibition of Pictures by Childe Hassam at the Montross Gallery in New York in 1915. ^[3] A twelfth painting in the series, California, has been dated to 1919. ^[4] The majority of Hassam's California etchings were first exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1927. ^[5]

Historically, Hassam's work as an Impressionist in San Francisco was somewhat unique. Even though the works of the French Impressionists were first popularized in California by San Francisco art galleries in the 1890s, and had their first major public exhibition at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in 1915, just several years after New York's Armory Show, ^[6] artists in Northern California remained strongly attached to the style of tonalism, not Impressionism. The vast majority of artists who took up the style of California Impressionism did so in Southern California, not the north, leading to that region serving as the nexus for the short-lived legacy of regional Impressionism in the early 20th century. ^[7]

Several California artists found inspiration in Hassam's work and painted similar scenes in the Bay Area. In Northern California, members of the Society of Six in Oakland, California, were greatly influenced by the PPIE in 1915, which revealed works by French Impressionists, American Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Futurists for the first time in California. Plein-air artists Maurice Logan (1886–1977) and Selden Connor Gile (1877–1947), both members of the Society of Six, later painted works featuring hills in the Bay Area that are reminiscent of Hassam's treatment of similar landforms. ^[6] Art historian Will South compares Hassam to that of California Impressionist Guy Rose (1867–1925), finding that aside from their personality differences, they took similar career trajectories and even painted the same subjects in New York and California. Nevertheless, the wider art world has mostly ignored California Impressionists and other modernists. In 2002, South observed that large Impressionist exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and retrospectives of American modernism all ignored California-based artists. ^[8]

Selected works

Year	Image	Title	Type	Dimensions	Gallery	Notes
1914		Madroñes Hill [9]	Oil on canvas	Unknown	Unknown	First exhibited 1915 [1]
1914		The California Hills (The Little Vineyard) [9]	Oil on canvas	36.5 x 44.5 in	Private collection	Stolen 2019 [10]
1914		Spring Morning in California [9]	Oil on canvas	Unknown	Unknown	First exhibited 1915 [1]
1914		Telegraph Hill [9]	Oil on canvas	241⁄8 (61.3 cm) x 241⁄8 in (61.3 cm)	White House Collection [11]	Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Dimick [11]
1914		The Eucalyptus in Blossom [9]	Oil on canvas	Unknown	Unknown	First exhibited 1915 [1]
1914		The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate [9]	Oil on canvas	30 in (76 cm) × 32 in (81 cm)	Brauer Museum of Art	Deaccessioning in process [12]
1914		California Hills, In Spring [9]	Oil on canvas	30 × 32 in	American Academy of Arts and Letters	Hassam bequest, 1936 [13]
1914		Hill of the Sun, San Anselmo, California [9]	Oil on canvas	31.5 in × 31.75 in	Oakland Museum of California	Gift of the Oakland Museum Women's Board in honor of George W. Neubert [14]
1914		Eucalyptus Trees–Spring (California Hills back of Tamalpais) [9]	Oil on canvas	Unknown	Norton Museum of Art	Gift of Dr. S. Charles and Marcella Ungar Werblow 2016 [15]
1914		San Anselmo [9]	Oil on canvas	Unknown	Unknown	First exhibited 1915 [1]
1914		Point Lobos [9]	Oil on canvas	28.3 in (71.9 cm) × 36.1 in (91.9 cm)	Los Angeles County Museum of Art	Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Harrison Collection [16]
1916		Old Chinatown, San Francisco [17]	Etching	5 3⁄16 in (13.18 cm) × 4 15⁄16 in (12.54 cm)	National Gallery of Art	Made from a 1904 drawing [2] Gift of Mrs. Childe Hassam [18]
1919		California [4]	Oil on Canvas	24 (61 cm) × 43 in (109.2 cm)	Private collection	Sold at auction 2017 [4]
1927		Contours of Los Angeles	Etching	6 × 107⁄16 in [2]	Unknown	Stays at the Mayfair Hotel by March 2 [1] First exhibited in 1927 [5]
1927		Eucalyptus Trees, Coronado	Etching	97⁄8 × 1013⁄16 in [2]	Unknown	Stays at the Hotel del Coronado by March 16 [1] First exhibited in 1927 [5]
1927		Coronado Beach, California	Etching	9 × 131⁄8 in [2]	Unknown	First exhibited in 1927 [5]
1927		Point Loma, California	Etching	93⁄16 × 133⁄16 in [2]	The San Diego Museum of Art	Gift of Mrs. Childe Hassam [19]
1927		Edward Borein in Santa Barbara	Etching	20.3 cm (8 in) × 15.2 cm (6 in)	Santa Barbara Historical Museum	Stays at El Mirasol Hotel by March 25 [1] First exhibited in 1927 [5] Gift of Amy and Steve Macfarlane [20]
1927		The Plaza de la Guerra	Etching	67⁄8 × 9 [2]	Unknown	First exhibited in 1927 [5]
1927		Corpus Christi from Point Loma [2]	Etching
1927		Coronado and Point Loma [2]	Etching		Unknown
1927		A California Oil Field [2]	Etching	8 7⁄8 × 137⁄8	Unknown	First exhibited in 1927 [5]
1927		Point Loma (Version A) [2]	Etching		Unknown
1927		Giants and Pygmies	Etching	8 3⁄8 in (21.27 cm) × 11 in (27.94 cm)	Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center	Gift of Mrs. Childe Hassam [21]
1928		Point Loma (Version B) [2]	Etching		Unknown
1928		The Giant [2]	Etching		Unknown	From a 1927 drawing [2]
1928		The Redwoods [2]	Etching		Unknown	From a 1927 drawing [2]
1928		California [2]	Etching		Unknown	From a 1927 drawing [2]

References

1. Weinberg, H. Barbara; Barker, Elizabeth E. (2004). Childe Hassam, American impressionist. Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press. pp. 196-197, 201, 369-372, 373-403. ISBN   9781588391193. OCLC   54500279.
2. Eliasoph, Paula (1933). Handbook of Etchings by Childe Hassam, N.A., 1883–1933. New York: Leonard Clayton Gallery. pp. 28, 58-61. OCLC   3735340.
3. Gerdts, William H.; South, Will (1998). California Impressionism. United Kingdom: Abbeville Press Publishers. pp. 53-57, 76, 189. ISBN   9780789201768. OCLC   1414525653.
4. Hassam, Childe (2017)[1919]. California Archived 2021-06-13 at the Wayback Machine . Christie's. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
5. American Academy of Arts and Letters. (1927). A Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Works of Childe Hassam. At the American Academy of Arts and Letters. New York City. April 21–October 21, 1927. Academy Publication No. 58. OCLC   776589206.
6. Boas, Nancy (1998). The Society of Six: California Colorists. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 58-68, 128. ISBN   9780520210547. OCLC   35762633.
7. Landauer, Susan (1996). California Impressionists. Irvine Museum; Georgia Museum of Art. pp. 11-12, 36-38, 46, 65, 91 ISBN   9780915977222. OCLC   1391294845.
8. South, Will (2002). "The Participatory Nature of Early California Art" Archived 2024-12-01 at the Wayback Machine . In Solon, Deborah Epstein (Ed). In and Out of California: Travels of American Impressionists. Laguna Art Museum. pp. 11-38. ISBN   9780940872264. OCLC   49225433.
9. Exhibition of Pictures by Childe Hassam. Montross Gallery. New York: The Gallery. 1915.
10. Luna, Marcy de (February 8, 2019). "Here are some of the millions of dollars of valuables stolen from Tony Buzbee's River Oaks mansion". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
11. Kloss, William; Bolger, Doreen; Curry, David Park; Monkman, Betty; Wilmerding, John (1992). Art in the White House: A Nation's Pride. White House Historical Association. ISBN   9780810939653. OCLC   681275916.
12. Adame, Jaime (March 14, 2023). "Strong Opposition to Art Sale at Valparaiso". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
13. Hassam, Childe (1914). California Hills, In Spring. American Academy of Arts and Letters. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
14. Hassam, Childe (1914). Hill of the Sun, San Anselmo, California. Gallery of California Art. Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
15. Norton Museum of Art. Twitter. March 14, 2021.
16. "Curator notes" Archived 2024-06-08 at the Wayback Machine . Point Lobos, Carmel. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
17. Broder, Janis (1984). The American West: The Modern Vision. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. pp. 20-1. ISBN   9780821215784. OCLC   1396441999.
18. Hassam, Childe (1904). Old Chinatown, San Francisco, 1904 Archived 2024-11-10 at the Wayback Machine . National Gallery of Art. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
19. Hassam, Childe (1927). Point Loma, California Archived 2024-11-10 at the Wayback Machine . The San Diego Museum of Art. 1940.37.m. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
20. Santa Barbara Historical Museum Annual Report 2021 Archived 2024-11-11 at the Wayback Machine . "Supporting the Museum". Santa Barbara Historical Museum. p. 17. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
21. Hassam, Childe (1927). Giants and Pygmies Archived 2024-11-10 at the Wayback Machine . Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. 1940.2.7. Retrieved November 10, 2024.

Further reading

• Hiesinger, Ulrich W. (1994). Childe Hassam: American Impressionist. Prestel-Verlag Publishing. ISBN   3791313649. OCLC   624908066.