Rainy Day, Boston

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Rainy Day, Boston

Artist Childe Hassam (American, 1859-1935)

Date1885

DimensionsPainting: 26 × 48 in. (66 × 121.9 cm)
Frame: 33 × 53 3/4 × 3 in. (83.8 × 136.5 × 7.6 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott

Object number

1956.53

Not on View

Label Text“I am never tired of observing [people] in every-day life…. Humanity in motion is a constant study to me.” --Childe Hassam In Rainy Day, Boston Childe Hassam chose a thoroughly modern subject: the wide avenues and new brick row houses of Boston’s fashionable South End at the intersection of Columbus Avenue (on the left) and Appleton Street. Hassam, who lived at the time on Columbus Avenue, explained that his street “was all paved in asphalt, and I used to think it very pretty when it was wet and shining, and caught the reflections of passing people and vehicles.” Modern, too, was the unusual use of empty space in the center foreground of the painting. The plunging perspective of the streets and the “wide angle” view suggests the influence of photography, still relatively new. The effects of weather and the subject of city life with its to-and-fro bustle (notice how Hassam slightly blurs the trotting horses’ legs to capture the idea of movement) were influenced by the French Impressionists.Published ReferencesLawson, E. P., "Victorian Boston," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, 1957, vol. 1, no. 2, p. 9, repr.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June 1957," Art Quarterly, vol. XX, no. 3, Autumn 1957, p. 318.

The Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 1, no. 2, Summer 1957, p. 9, repr.

Pierson, William H., Jr., and Martha Davidson, ed., Arts of the United States: A Pictorial Survey, New York, McCraw-Hill, 1960, no. 2680, repr. p. 310.

Bentley, Gill Wright, "American Art," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 7, no. 3, Autumn 1964, pp. 57-62, repr. p. 59, and on cover (det.) in color.

Rheims, Maurice, L'art 1900, Paris, 1965, p. 133, repr. (b&w) no. 218.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1966, repr.

Young, Mahonri Sharp, "From Howling Wilderness to Queensborough Bridge," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 504, repr. fig. 17.

Wilmerding, John, Pittura Americana dell'Ottocento, Milano, 1967, p. 24, repr. (col.) p. 84, tav. LVIII.

Spaeth, Eloise, American Art Museums, New York, 1969, rev. ed. p. 205.

Williams, T. Harry, A History of the United States Since 1865, New York, 1969, plate 10 (after p. 360) repr. in color.

Wilmerding, John, Audubon, Homer, Whistler and 19th Century America, New York, 1970, p. 16, repr. (col.) p. 76.

Current, Richard N., American History: A Survey, 3rd ed., New York, 1971, repr. (col.) plate 10 (following p. 522).

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 78.

Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, no. 2, Summer 1977, repr. (col.) cover.

Brown, M., History of American Art to 1900, New York, 1977, p. 559, pl. 695.

Hoopes, D., Childe Hassam, New York, 1979, pp. 13, 22, 23, 26, 34, pl. 1 and 6N cover.

The Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, p. 58, pl. 102.

Strickler, Susan E., "American Paintings at the Toledo Museum of Art," Antiques, vol. 116, no. 5, Nov. 1979, p. 1115, repr. (col.) pl. X.

Ballinger, James K., "Bookshelf, Childe Hassam," Art & Antiques, vol. 3, no. 4, July/Aug. 1980, p. 19.

Bienenstock, Jennifer A. Martin, "Childe Hassam's Early Boston Cityscapes," Arts, vol. 55, no. 3, Nov. 1980, p. 168, repr. fig. 1.

Zaitzevsky, Cynthia, Frederick Law Olmsted and the Boston Park System, Cambridge, MA, 1982, p. 13, fig. 9.

A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1983, no. 89, p. 310, 311, repr. (col.) p. 162-163. (French ed., entry on p. 326, 327).

The Quest for Unity: American Art Between World's Fairs 1876-1893, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1983, p. 229.

Stebbins, Theodore E., "American Masterpieces," Portfolio, vol. 5, no. 5, Sept./Oct. 1983, p. 53, repr. (col.).

Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 18, no. 3, Fall 1984, repr. on cover.

Gerdts, William H., American Impressionism, New York, 1984, p. 94, pl. 97.

Gaehtgens, Thomas W., ed., Bilder aus der Neuen Welt, Münich, 1988, p. 117, fig. 6.

Goldstein, Nathan, Design and Composition, Englewood Cliffs, 1989, p. 132, fig. 6.13, p. 133.

Broude, Norma, ed., World Impressionism: The International Movement, 1860-1920, New York, 1990, p. 38, 57, fig. 32.

A Nation's Legacy: 150 years of American Art from Ohio Collections, Columbus Musueum of Art, 1992, no. 36, p. 49, 178, repr. p. 64 (col.) 178.

Gaehtgens, Thomas W. and Heinz Ickstadt, eds., American Icons, Santa Monica, 1992, p. 324, repr. p. 326.

Malerei des Impressionismus 1860-1920, Bd II: Der Impressionismus in Europa und Nordamerica, Cologne, 1992, p. 621, repr. p. 603 (col.).

Smith, Margaret Supplee and John C. Moorhouse, "Architecture and the Housing Market: Nineteenth Century Row Housing in Boston's South End," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 52, no. 2, June 1993, p. 165, fig. 6.

Hiesinger, Ulrich W., Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, Munich, 1994, pp. 21, 24, 25, fig. 13 (col.), pp. 22-23.

Lucie-Smith, Edward, American Realism, London, 1994, p. 58, fig. 45.

Weinberg, H. Barbara, American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915, New York, 1994, pp. 174-175, fig. 159 (col.).

Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts,1995, p. 73, repr. (col.).

Shi, David E., Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture, 1850-1920, New York, 1995, p. 151, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 136, repr. (col.).

Little, Carl, Paintings of New England, Camden, ME, 1996, p. 10, repr. (col.), p. 64.

Burnside, Kathleen M., "Hassam, (Frederick) Childe," in The Dictionary of Art, vol. 14, New York, Grove's Dictionaries, 1996, p. 219, repr., p. 220.

Twelve American Masterpieces, New York, Spanierman Gallery, 1998, p. 68, fig. 30 (col.).

Murphy, Michael John, The Rejecting Embrace: Urban Modernity and Childe Hassam's "Rainy Day, Boston," Washington University, 1998, (unpublished MA thesis).

Eliot-Ramsey, Regina, A.C. Goodwin: Impressionist Cityscapes, Newton, MA, 1999, p. 9.

Adelson, Warren, "Childe Hassam and the French Impressionists," Antiques, vol. 156, no. 5, Nov. 1999, p. 695.

Broun, Elizabeth, "Childe Hassam's America," American Art, vol. 13, no. 3, Fall 1999, p. 34, fig. 1.

Adelson, Warren, et.al., Childe Hassam: Impressionist, New York, 1999, pp. 14, 15, 18, 127-128, pl. 10 (col.).

Burnside, Kathleen M., "Hassam, (Frederick) Childe," in Encyclopedia of American Art before 1914, New York, Grove's Dictionaries, 2000, p. 215, repr.

French and American Impressionists Works from the Collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, 2000, p. 171, repr. p. 114.

Prindle, Elizabeth, "Childe Hassam, South End Impressionist," The South End Historical Society Newsletter, vol. 29, no. 1, April 2001, pp. 2-4, fig. 2, repr. on back cover.

An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, 2002, p. 100, repr.

Southgate, M. Therese, "The Cover," JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 287, no. 14, Apr. 10, 2002, p. 1769, repr. on cover (col.).

Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004, no. 108, pp. 42-47, 50, 60-61, 300-301, 409, repr. p. 42 (color), fig. 36.

Weinberg, H. Barbara, "Childe Hassam: Patterns of Appreciation," Antiques, vol. 166, no. 1, July 2004, p. 87, pl. III (col.) p. 88-89.

Weinberg, H. Barbara, "Childe Hassam, American Impressionist," American Art Review, vol. 1, no. 4, July-Aug. 2004, repr. (col.) p. 123.

Stewart, Doug, "Impressionism's American Childe, " Smithsonian, vol. 35, no. 5, August 2004, pp. 82, 84, repr. (col.) pp.80-81.

Larkin, Susan G., American Impressionism: the Beauty of Work, Greenwich, CT, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, 2005, p. 62, fig. 51.

Updike, John, Still Looking: Essays on American Art, New York, Knopf, 2005, p. 123, repr. (col.).

Masterworks of American Art, Lecture by William Kloss, Chantilly, VA, Teaching Company, 2008, DVD.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 265, repr. (col.).

Hirshler, Erica E., Childe Hassam: At Dusk, Boston Common at Twilight, Boston, MFA Publications, 2015, pp. 19-20, repr. (col.) pp. 18-19.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Society of American Artists, Eighth Exhibition, 1886, no. 58.

New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Childe Hassam, 1859-1935, 1964, no. 11.

Washington, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Childe Hassam, A Retrospective Exhibition, 1965, no. 1.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Washington, Corcoran Gallery; Paris, Grand Palais; A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760-1910, 1983, no. 89.

New York, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, American Paintings from the Toledo Museum of Art, 1986.

Columbus, Columbus Museum of Art; Tokyo, The Isetan Museum; Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, et. al., A Nation's Legacy: 150 years of American Art from Ohio Collections, 1992, no. 36.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Saint Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; et al., Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, 1995-1996.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, 2004.