Childe Hassam 1859-1935

American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, 1935 (by bequest of the artist)
Milch Galleries, New York, 1944
Mr. and Mrs. Stephan M. Dryfoos, 1950 (acquired from the above)
Newhouse Galleries, New York and Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1958
Acquired from the above, 1958

New York, Lotus Club, 85th Anniversary Exhibition, March-April 1955, no. 9
New York, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, The Impressionist Mood in American Painting, January-February 1958
New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Childe Hassam, February-March 1964, no. 34
Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art; Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts; Manchester, New Hampshire, Currier Gallery of Art; New York, Gallery of Modern Art, Childe Hassam: A Retrospective Exhibition, April-December 1965, no. 18
Tucson, Arizona, University of Arizona Museum of Art; Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Childe Hassam (1859-1935), February-March 1972, no. 40, illustrated p. 75

Ulrich W. Hiesinger, Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New York, 1994, p. 96, illustrated in color
William H. Gerdts, "Three Themes," Childe Hassam: Impressionist, New York, 1999, p. 153

Very good condition, unlined; recently cleaned; under UV: no apparent retouching.
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In 1892, Chicago won the bid to host The World's Columbian Exposition in honor of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of the New World, beating out rivals New York, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis.  Twenty-one years earlier, a fire had swallowed nearly four square miles of the city, and though Chicago was quick to re-build, the opportunity to host the World's Fair provided the ultimate symbol of redemption for the devastated metropolis. Architects Daniel Burnham and John Root masterminded the plan for the nearly six hundred acres of land on which almost two hundred buildings were erected in the Beaux Arts style of architecture, earning the fairgrounds the title of "The White City." The Fair officially opened on May 1st, 1893.

The Exposition provided the impetus for Childe Hassam's first visit to the city. Barbara Weinberg writes, "Hassam's 1892 visit to Chicago in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition provoked some distinctive images. In order to supplement his income, Hassam undertook two commercial assignments associated with the fair... He added backgrounds and figures to a group of existing architectural drawings by other artists, which were then reproduced as a series of chromolithographs entitled Gems of the White City; made original views of the Exposition buildings in watercolor and gouache; and painted a few other watercolors and oils on Chicago themes" ("Hassam's Travels, 1892-1914," Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, 2004, p. 179).  Also, Hassam exhibited five oils and five watercolors at the Exposition, earning him medals in both media. The fair, which was attended by 27 million people (at a time when the United States population was approximately 50 million), provided unprecedented exposure for Hassam's work.

Just as Chicago was experiencing a renaissance inspired by post-fire rebuilding and Exposition-related construction, the surrounding suburbs were expanding with inhabitants fleeing the city's congestion.  Oak Park, a small village on Chicago's western border lay seven miles from the city's center. Between the time of the fire and the Exposition, Oak Park's population increased from 500 to 5,000. Trolley lines, which ran from central Chicago along Lake Street, terminated in Oak Park and efficiently carried commuters to and from work.  At some point during Hassam's stay in Chicago, he decided to visit the suburb, probably arriving by trolley car.  William Gerdts writes, "What drew Hassam to Oak Park is not known, but he may have been visiting fellow artists there, for Oak Park was home to the best-known and most sustained suburban art community in the Chicago region" (Childe Hassam: Impressionist, p. 154). 

End of the Trolley Line, Oak Park, Illinois, painted in 1893, depicts the central intersection of the still sleepy town.  The general store, called the Cash Store, a modest one story structure, anchors the intersection.  As opposed to the bustling crowds of Paris, New York and Chicago, Hassam focuses on the small buildings, mostly empty street and seeming quiet of small town America.  William Gerdts writes, "End of the Trolley Line, Oak Park, Illinois, is set in a middle-class Chicago suburb, far from the modernity of the big city.  Here, the street car is not a dramatic presence but blends in with the low-slung buildings and slow-moving figures—those on foot, on horseback, and in a carriage.  This scene looks stereotypically "middle American" in every sense of the term" (Childe Hassam: Impressionist, p. 154).

 

Hassam's work in Chicago is a study in contrasts.  The images he created while in Chicago charted the architectural prowess and industrial advances of a city literally rising from its ashes.  The present picture is a prescient view of a town just on the verge of transformation, about to be forever altered by the advent of the trolley, which ushered scores of daily commuters to and from the grind of life in the big city.