Edwardian Art and the unintended effect on Frederick Childe Hassam (U.S.A 1859–1935)

I wrote this posting some time ago, and then thought against posting it.  I considered perhaps it was a little harsh, so shouldn't be posted.  However, I think that the works of Hassam are part of the distillation process that I am going through regarding high Edwardian printmania.  Perhaps this is connected to the reason perhaps why this period hasn't fared as well as time goes on, and nor has Hassam's work. Hassam is both a cautionary tale, and also an example par excellence.  He was a patrician artist who grew up in a wealthy and prosperous East Coast family, and studied in Boston and then at the Academie Julian in Paris under Boulanger and Lefabvre. He was an early follower of Monet in France, and later became influenced by Whistler. Hassam, who on wood, copper and canvas continually sought to capture the flicker of sunlight outdoors,  led to him being called a "luminist".

Hassam became known as one of the leading exponenets of "luminism" (American Impressionism) and it's ironic that he helped to found a group of artists to rebel against the American Academy. Ironic because Hassam was such a purist in technique and often chose those techniques based on what would bring him the most success, financially that is. Sadly, much of Hassam's work is quite imitative and the weakness of his work is that there is virtually no energy. Hassam was one of those Edwardian artists who needed to fill virtually every space. This adds another issue because much of the space is feebly related and in some of his works he makes no effort toward even trying to escape his imitations of Whistler (I am speaking of the "White Kimono" below). I am not one to write negatively about artists in general, so I will be fair. There is a nervous quality and even when the design seems rather imitative, it conveys an impression of life moving in it's own time. He is strongest and most original when his works are quick and observational and his figures are sculptural.

Hassam was hugely popular in the Edwardian period with the well-to-do of New York, Boston and Washington, but mostly with his paintings.  They were often interiors with figures or small landscapes with figures, sometimes nudes.  He seemed happiest when doing this kind of work, and perhaps the problem is they haven't aged well.  With modern eyes they sometimes seem clunky and staged, but then that is an ailment that affects many of the Edwardian artists today.  Works by Hassam fit into this very stagey style of work, with girls sewing or reading outdoors with soft light and downward cast and demure countenance.  It could be argued that this summary of Hassam is unfair, because of course Hassam was mostly famed for his paintings. However, even with his paintings his work was once described as "cribbed, cabin'd and confined", which sounds like the title to a Cole Porter song.

His paintings were compared to Renoir, because that is who he obviously cribbed from, but his works lacked greatly when compared to Renoir's works.  His later etchings were often compared, by design, to Whistler.  Here too, his print works never quite match up to his inspiration.  Perhaps if his works were more vivacious and alive, they would have stood the test of time, and perhaps if they possessed more distinction....or at the very least something that would make them distinct.  When you look at these etchings, you would be hard pressed to make the mistake, that you are looking at etchings by Whistler.  I am certain the comparison and cribbing was an intentional hope by Hassam, but overall his works are part of a period of art marketing that haven't really contributed a great deal to American art, and to be fair, Hassam wasn't the only victim or perpetrator.

It was often thought during the Edwardian period that etchings afforded the artist the opportunity to capture light very well, especially when compared to other reproductive techniques of the time.  This school of thought not only required greater quickness but also greater accuracy, especially in the rendering of shading and light.  During the Edwardian period, etchings were in high favour and that popular taste combined with a fluffy and over-inflated etching market, made it seem as though etchings of the high Edwardian style would never end.  Many, many artists embarked on adventures in black and white, either reproducing their own work in oils or taking up the etching needle as their chosen tool.  The question arises wether it was all good etching or that many artists, like Hassam, used it for money in between oils.  Etching popularity and the bubble associated with it, is an interesting part of history I think.  In some ways, the artists of the day thought it was part of the democratization of art, and was another stage in the development in tastes for the fine arts.

During the Edwardian period there was also an attached glamour to having works with the term "remarque" and "artist's proof", that slowly diminished by the 20's since it wasn't possible to fortify the face of a plate that the one thousandth print taken from it would be as clear and fine as the first.  The market was largest (and by largest I mean most over-inflated) in London and New York, where the well-to-do and newly minted mercantile class were falling over themselves to show their good taste.  Perhaps it was the portability, relative cheapness and simplicity of creating something for ten people rather than for one person that began thinning out the artistic herd.  If your paintings fell out of favour, you were probably in some trouble, and if it was sold, you only sold that one, but with an etching, if it was popular you could make more prints of it.
 

This was the weakness of Hassam in my opinion and to some extent Whistler, who was a big proponent of the etching, because it suited him financially.  Collecting etchings is no longer the pursuit it was during the 1900's, but as the fickle fortunes of art changed, there are many museums in Britain and the USA that have an interesting record of the Edwardian etching boom and bust in their "currently not on display" collections.  Speaking of boom and bust, when you read this I will be in the air flying to Canada, so postings may be a little light for a couple of weeks.  Don't remove me from your favourite lists though, rest assured I will be back with more ruminations and mental meanderings on art and the artists who create them.