Customer Reviews

Childe Hassam: American Impressionist

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Who was Childe Hassam and who is Ulrich Hiesinger? I'm not sure and I have no idea. I looked all over this book and I couldn't find even a brief biographical sketch of Mr. Hiesinger. Is he a journalist or an artist or a professor? I suppose I will never know. I do know a bit more about Childe Hassam. For one thing, his first name was really Frederick. There are some pretty extensive excerpts from letters that he wrote and he was an opinionated fellow, so you do get to know a little bit about him. He liked American artists and did not care much for European artists. He thought very highly of himself.... I wanted to know more about the soul of the man but in that I was disappointed. The book is too much of a travelogue and skips from place to place in New England and Europe following Hassam around and giving cold facts about when he was in this place and what he painted there. There is not enough analysis of the paintings. Mr. Hiesinger is very vague about what he thinks makes a particular piece good or bad, except that in general he seems to think that sketchy is good and highly finished is bad. I beg to differ, by the way. Hassam obviously had a lot of talent but he produced too much work because he depended totally on sales to provide his living. One strong point of this book is that there are almost 200 reproductions, most of them in color. It allows you to see that Hassam produced a few great paintings and a few good ones, but also many mediocre works. He was at his best when he was young, in my opinion as later on he tended to dash things off to maximize sales. He was obviously greatly influenced by the French Impressionists although this apparently was a sore spot with him. If you want an introduction to Hassam this is worth reading. If you know that you like his work it is worth buying for the many high quality plates. If you want a definitive biography, this is not the book for you. Tantalizingly, Mr. Hiesinger mentions in a couple of places that Hassam apparently had a lifetime problem with alcohol. You are never even given a clue as to what demons were in his closet...

As a self-learning artist I found and continue to find this book extremely enjoyable and helpful. Childe Hassam is one of my favorite painters. If he had lived into his 80s we could have met. He painted in both watercolor and oils. He did great scenes of daily city life. He went to France, but continued to do his own thing. He picked up on impressionism but eventually realized there was an American school of painting (we had Homer and Sargent after all). I like his early work best -the horse/cabbie scenes. The critics got on him for painting so many rainy street scenes and he (unfortunately)he moved into other areas. He was always working on selling his paintings. The author, Ulrich Hiesinger, is an excellent writer and I would recommend anything he does. The book itself is large and filled with color prints and old photos and uses a very friendly type-face. There is a photo of Childe in his studio about 1885. It looks cluttered and cold. It reminds me not to be a "studio wimp" but to get it done wherever you are. You will like this book.