{"id":4075,"date":"2025-03-19T14:55:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/?p=4075"},"modified":"2025-03-24T17:03:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T21:03:59","slug":"frederick-childe-hassam-spring-flowering-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/frederick-childe-hassam-spring-flowering-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Childe Hassam Spring Flowering Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column4075_990663-15{max-width:100%;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;}.wp-block-kadence-column.kb-section-dir-horizontal:not(.kb-section-md-dir-vertical)>.kt-inside-inner-col>.kadence-column4075_990663-15{-webkit-flex:0 1 100%;flex:0 1 100%;max-width:unset;margin-left:unset;margin-right:unset;}.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column4075_990663-15{position:relative;}@media all and (min-width: 1025px){.wp-block-kadence-column.kb-section-dir-horizontal>.kt-inside-inner-col>.kadence-column4075_990663-15{-webkit-flex:0 1 100%;flex:0 1 100%;max-width:unset;margin-left:unset;margin-right:unset;}}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.wp-block-kadence-column.kb-section-sm-dir-vertical:not(.kb-section-sm-dir-horizontal):not(.kb-section-sm-dir-specificity)>.kt-inside-inner-col>.kadence-column4075_990663-15{max-width:100%;-webkit-flex:1;flex:1;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;}.kadence-column4075_990663-15 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column4075_990663-15 mobile-section\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"774\" height=\"114\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo.png\" alt=\"Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection\" class=\"wp-image-2922\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo.png 774w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo-300x44.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/lynch-logo-768x113.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-4075_34999f-85 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-4075_34999f-85 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#f1f1f1;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-4075_34999f-85 .kt-divider{width:100%!important;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-4075_34999f-85\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Frederick Childe Hassam (1859\u20131935)<\/strong><br><em>Spring Flowering Trees<\/em>, c. 1900<br><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil on canvas<br>McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.52<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1135\" height=\"1135\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-spring-trees.jpg\" alt=\"Spring Flowering Trees\" class=\"wp-image-4076\" style=\"width:1202px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-spring-trees.jpg 1135w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-spring-trees-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-spring-trees-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-spring-trees-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-spring-trees-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1135px) 100vw, 1135px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#f1f1f1\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>Nancy Netzer<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><br>Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/netzer-3.jpg\" alt=\"Nancy Netzer\" class=\"wp-image-4077\" style=\"width:78px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/netzer-3.jpg 200w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/netzer-3-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"849\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-apple-trees-1024x849.jpg\" alt=\"Apple Trees in Bloom\" class=\"wp-image-4078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-apple-trees-1024x849.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-apple-trees-300x249.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-apple-trees-768x636.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/hassam-apple-trees.jpg 1132w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Apple Trees in Bloom, Old Lyme<\/em>, 1904. Oil on panel, private collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Trained in Boston, first as a wood engraver and then as a watercolor painter, by 1883 Hassam established himself in a studio on Tremont Street as a painter of city views and landscapes in the thickly painted style of the French Barbizons. Popular with American collectors, Barbizon artists like Jules Dupr\u00e9 (1811\u201399), focused on rural scenes (see his painting&nbsp;<em>Landscape with Woman in Red<\/em>&nbsp;displayed on this floor). From 1886 to 1889, while living in Paris and studying at the Acad\u00e9mie Julian, Hassam began to blend impressionist brushstrokes with more solid figures. In 1889 he relocated his studio to New York, but to escape urban life traveled during the spring and summer months to various New England coastal towns, where he often indulged his lifelong attraction to painting the transient beauty of the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blossoming trees were a recurrent motif throughout his career, affording Hassam the opportunity to capture with impressionist brushstrokes flickering light on the flowers. In the present work, as in&nbsp;<em>Apple Trees in Bloom<\/em>&nbsp;depicting the foliage in front of his studio in Old Lyme, Connecticut (see image), he places an older, sprawling tree behind a more vital younger one, a juxtaposition interpreted by scholars as conveying the nostalgia for the past and optimism for the future prevalent among Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century.<sup>1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_07ab5394-f0ee-46fe-acba-ca14f2384e4f\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>1. Susan Larkin, \u201cHassam in New England,\u201d in&nbsp;<em>Childe Hassam, American Impressionist<\/em>, ed. H. Barbara Weinberg (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004), 157.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-not-stacked-on-mobile has-background is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#f1f1f1\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>Eileen Sweeney<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><br>Professor, Philosophy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/sweeney-1.jpg\" alt=\"Eileen Sweeney\" class=\"wp-image-4079\" style=\"width:78px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/sweeney-1.jpg 200w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/03\/sweeney-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This painting is a luscious, cotton-candy depiction of flowering spring trees. It might be too \u201cpretty\u201d except that Hassam\u2019s composition feels like a spontaneous and momentary glance, not \u201ccomposed\u201d in a classical sense. The large tree in the background is cut off at the side and top. It almost looks like it grows out of the tree in the foreground, and the composition is overbalanced on the left. Invoking the German philosopher Immanuel Kant\u2019s (1724\u20131804) ideas that the placement of sensations into three-dimensional space and the distinction of objects from one another are the work of reason and not given in sensation or imagination, Hassam makes us observe the way our mind \u201ccorrects\u201d the painting, realizing two distinct trees, one behind the other by some distance. Everything but the blossoms is dark and indistinct. If Hassam\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Water Hazard\u2014Maidstone Links<\/em>&nbsp;emphasizes an objective \u201cjust-the-sensations\u201d where people are patches of color in the landscape,&nbsp;<em>Spring Flowering Trees<\/em>&nbsp;emphasizes the subjective experience of seeing the blooming tree. The tree takes over the painting so that we experience the joyful shock of the trees dressed in their temporary spring flowers. The painting displays the fleeting moment of full spring in ways we do not ever actually \u201csee\u201d it but captures how we \u201csee\u201d it subjectively. So while in the&nbsp;<em>Maidstone Links<\/em>&nbsp;painting nearby, objects are patches of color, disintegrated into what we \u201cobjectively see,\u201d here the focus is blurred and the colors blended, presenting the trees in a single subjective flash of beauty and joy. Hassam captures the pleasure of seeing for and in the subject, Kant would say, conveying the essence of the experience such that we can almost smell the flowers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-4075_aeb5a8-72 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-4075_aeb5a8-72 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#f1f1f1;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-4075_aeb5a8-72 .kt-divider{width:100%!important;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-4075_aeb5a8-72\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"383\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-1024x383.png\" alt=\"Logo Gold\" class=\"wp-image-2910\" style=\"width:569px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-1024x383.png 1024w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold-768x287.png 768w, https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/249\/2025\/01\/mcmullen-logo-gold.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frederick Childe Hassam (1859\u20131935)Spring Flowering Trees, c. 1900 Oil on canvasMcMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection, 2022.52 Nancy NetzerInaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, McMullen Museum and Professor, Art History Trained in Boston, first as a wood engraver and then as a watercolor painter, by 1883 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140560,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"margaret-sandbox","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/author\/margaret-sandbox\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4075"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4450,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4075\/revisions\/4450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/museum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}