The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

Fifth Avenue

1919

Childe Hassam

(American, 1859–1935)

America, 20th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 86.4 x 76.2 x 6.4 cm (34 x 30 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 61.3 x 51.5 cm (24 1/8 x 20 1/4 in.); Former: 76.5 x 66.5 x 4.5 cm (30 1/8 x 26 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.)

Anonymous Gift 1952.539

Location

208 American Gilded Age and Realism

Fun Fact

During World War I, the fiercely nationalistic Hassam was mistakenly arrested for being a German spy.

Description

Childe Hassam was fascinated by bustling Fifth Avenue, the famed Manhattan thoroughfare quickly becoming a popular shopping district around the time he made this painting. His composition features flecks of color and blurred
forms to approximate reflected light and rapid movement. The accelerated pace of modern life is suggested through the street full of streaming traffic, including two green double-decker buses at lower right.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower right: Childe Hassam 1919

Provenance
1952-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Citations
Urteaga Loidi, Jesús. Saints in the World: The Adventure of Christian Life. Princeton, NJ: Scepter Publishers, 2002. illus. on cover
Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: front/rear end leaves (detail); p. 108 - 109
Exhibition history

Iowa City, The University of Iowa Gallery of Art, Impressionism and Its Roots (8 November-6 December 1964), cat. no. 47, illus. p. 29.

Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Childe Hassam: A Retrospective Exhibition (30 April-1 August 1965); traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (17 August-19 September 1965); to Manchester, NH, The Currier Gallery of Art (28 September-31 October 1965); to New York, The Gallery of Modern Art (16 November-19 December 1965); cat. no. 55, illus. p. 34.

Washington, D.C., The National Gallery, American Impressionist Painting (1 July-26 August 1973); traveled to New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art (18 September-2 November 1973); to Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum (15 December 1973-31 January 1974); to Raleigh, The North Carolina Museum of Art (8 March-29 April 1974); cat. no. 36, illus. p. 96.

Art: The International Language. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 4, 1956).

Impressionism and its Roots. University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA (organizer) (November 8-December 6, 1964).

Childe Hassam: A Retrospective Exhibition. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (April 30-August 1, 1965); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (August 17-September 19, 1965); Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH (September 28-October 31, 1965); The Gallery of Modern Art (November 16-December 19, 1965).

American Impressionistic Painting. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (July 1-August 12, 1973); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (September 18-November 12, 1973); The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (December 15, 1973-January 31, 1974); North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC (March 8-April 29, 1974).

American Cities: The Artist's View. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 17, 1989-January 7, 1990).

Cleveland Collects American Art of the Gilded Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 23-May 18, 2003).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.539