Exhibition Guide

Childe Hassam painted this canvas in poet Celia Thaxter’s parlor at the Isles of Shoals off the New Hampshire coast. The composition echoes monochromatic bouquets she gathered from her famous garden, and Hassam’s choice of Marechal Niel roses, named after a hero of the Crimean War, signals his commitment to battle for the beautiful 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.