: Childe Hassam, America's most popular, successful and perhaps
most prolific Impressionist artist, is the subject of this large,
superb retrospective. It should be the highlight exhibition of
the year for aficionados of American Impressionist art.
One of the first Americans to embrace Impressionism, Hassam
(1859-1935) became a favorite chronicler of the streets of New
York City and of the rural charms of New England. His brilliant
and appealing depictions, filled with sunshine, light and
atmosphere, were enlivened with the artist's high-keyed palette
and optimistic approach to modern life.
"He is America's favorite Impressionist," says Morrison H.
Heckscher, chairman of the American Wing at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, "because he painted what we love."
"Childe Hassam, American Impressionist," was organized by H.
Barbara Weinberg and Alice Pratt Brown, curators of American
paintings and sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum, where it is
on view through September 12. There are more than 120 oil
paintings, watercolors and pastels and about 20 prints in the
exhibition.
