A Back Road
Frederick Childe Hassam
American Art
Throughout his career, Frederick Childe Hassam made several extended trips to Europe, where he was inspired by the sights and the many artists he met there. A Back Road, completed the year after his first European tour, demonstrates a compositional daring and freedom of brushwork that were still unusual in American art of this period. Influenced by the work of the nineteenth-century French Barbizon School, Hassam emphasized heavy brushstrokes and intense lighting effects.
During a return visit several years later, Hassam found “a charming old French garden” at Villiers-le-Bel, near Paris. The setting reminded him of Appledore Island off the coast of Maine, home to his friend, the poet Celia Thaxter. Poppies on the Isles of Shoals is one of a number of works painted on Appledore in the years immediately following his Paris sojourn.
During a return visit several years later, Hassam found “a charming old French garden” at Villiers-le-Bel, near Paris. The setting reminded him of Appledore Island off the coast of Maine, home to his friend, the poet Celia Thaxter. Poppies on the Isles of Shoals is one of a number of works painted on Appledore in the years immediately following his Paris sojourn.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1884
DIMENSIONS
frame: 37 7/8 x 32 x 3 1/4 in. (96.2 x 81.3 x 8.3 cm)
31 x 24 3/4 in. (78.8 x 62.8 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower left: "Childe Hassam/84"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
47.122
CREDIT LINE
Caroline H. Polhemus Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Frederick Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935). A Back Road, 1884. Oil on canvas, frame: 37 7/8 x 32 x 3 1/4 in. (96.2 x 81.3 x 8.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Caroline H. Polhemus Fund, 47.122 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.122_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 47.122_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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