Cat Boats, Newport

Childe Hassam’s career spans the breadth of modernism in America. From initial depictions of the urban scene to plein-air painting to experiments with abstraction late in his career, the Boston-bred Hassam continually responded to the world around him. He is best known as one of the leaders of the American Impressionists, the artists who were inspired by advanced French painting while studying in Europe. Unlike the idealized scenes or carefully detailed canvases of earlier landscape artists, the American Impressionists concerned themselves with the changeable nature of light, color, and atmosphere. "Cat Boats, Newport" was painted in the summer of 1901 in Newport, Rhode Island (the landmark Trinity Church is clearly visible in the background). The white ground and short, quick brushstrokes reveal Hassam's commitment to Impressionist principles. The effect is of boats bobbing in a sunlit harbor on a bright summer's day. The sparkling immediacy of the finished canvas, however, is belied by the painstaking preparatory drawings on which the artist based the work - a testament both to his bravura abilities and to the solid craftsmanship underlying Hassam's work. The aesthetic appeal of such paintings helped Hassam secure every major prize offered by the Academy, where he exhibited each year from 1884, until his death in 1935.