Exhibition Guide

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Roses in a Vase

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About Childe Hassam

(American, 1859-1935)

Art Object Info

Medium:
Oil on canvas
Size:
Width: 23 1/4"
Height: 19 1/4"
Date:
1890

Childe Hassam painted this canvas in poet Celia Thaxter’s parlor at the Isles of Shoals off the New Hampshire coast. The composition echoes the monochromatic bouquets she gathered from her famous garden, and his choice of Marechal Neil roses, named after a hero of the Crimean War, signals his commitment to battle for beauty in art. A lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Thaxter served as an aesthetic beacon, attracting 19th-century artists, writers, and musicians to Appledore Island, where she celebrated progressive art, music, and literature in a beautiful natural environment. Once deemed the most idiosyncratic watering place in the Union, Appledore became the prototype for early 20th-century American summer art colonies. Inspired by the parlor’s cultured atmosphere, the garden’s brilliant color, and the landscape’s wild beauty, Hassam created some of his finest work there.

The Helen and Abram Eisenberg Collection BMA 1967.36.3

Roses in a Vase

Childe Hassam
(American, 1859-1935)
Date:
1890
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Size:
Width: 23 1/4"
Height: 19 1/4"

Childe Hassam painted this canvas in poet Celia Thaxter’s parlor at the Isles of Shoals off the New Hampshire coast. The composition echoes the monochromatic bouquets she gathered from her famous garden, and his choice of Marechal Neil roses, named after a hero of the Crimean War, signals his commitment to battle for beauty in art. A lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Thaxter served as an aesthetic beacon, attracting 19th-century artists, writers, and musicians to Appledore Island, where she celebrated progressive art, music, and literature in a beautiful natural environment. Once deemed the most idiosyncratic watering place in the Union, Appledore became the prototype for early 20th-century American summer art colonies. Inspired by the parlor’s cultured atmosphere, the garden’s brilliant color, and the landscape’s wild beauty, Hassam created some of his finest work there.

The Helen and Abram Eisenberg Collection BMA 1967.36.3