Childe Hassam

Hassam, Childe

Childe Hassam

Hassam, Frederick Childe

Hassam, Frederick Childs

Dorchester October 17, 1859

Oregon

New York

East Hampton August 27, 1935

painter

printmaker

Oregon artist

Childe Hassam, a member of the group known as "Ten American Painters" organized in 1898, was one of the leading American adapters of French impressionism. He was best known for paintings of his native New England. Hassam made two trips to Oregon to visit his friend, fellow artist, C.E.S. Wood. In 1904 Hassam arrived in Portland to install a mural he had created for the Wood home, and stayed through the summer. He spent his time painting still lifes and landscapes, including Oregon Coast scenes from Ecola and Mt. Hood. He also painted the Cascades from Cloud Cap Inn on the eastern slopes of the mountain. Hassam returned to Oregon in 1908, this time to accompany Wood on a trip to Harney County in southeastern Oregon. In September they were guests at the P-Ranch of William Hanley, where both artists painted the landscapes of Harney and Malheur counties. After their return to Portland in late October, over thirty of Hassam's paintings from the trip were placed on exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. One of these, Afternoon Sky, Harney Desert, was purchased by a group of art patrons as the first oil painting for the fledgling Portland Art Museum. Another work from that expedition, Golden Afternoon, Oregon, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In 1909 the Montross Gallery of New York had an exhibition of Hassam’s Harney county paintings and in 1953 twenty-nine of his works were featured at the Portland Art Museum in an exhibit entitled Childe Hassam in Oregon.

Artist biography reproduced with permission from the authors, Oregon Painters: the First Hundred Years (1859-1959), Ginny Allen and Jody Klevit.

Male

Associate of: Albert Pinkham Ryder (American, 1847-1917)

John H. Twachtman (American, 1853-1902)

Associate of: Julian Alden Weir (American, 1852-1919)

Associate of: Charles Erskine Scott Wood (American, 1852-1944)