Surf, Isles of Shoals by Frederick Childe Hassam - 1913 - 89.5 x 71.8 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art Surf, Isles of Shoals by Frederick Childe Hassam - 1913 - 89.5 x 71.8 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art

Surf, Isles of Shoals

oil on canvas • 89.5 x 71.8 cm
  • Frederick Childe Hassam - October 17, 1859 - August 27, 1935 Frederick Childe Hassam 1913

Frederick Childe Hassam was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums. He produced over 3,000 paintings, oils, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs over the course of his career, and was an influential American artist of the early 20th century.

Hassam's summer sojourns on the Isles of Shoals, ten miles east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, were among the most fruitful of his long career, inspiring almost ten percent of his works. This painting in oil on canvas is a particularly fine example. It presents a broad view of a tidal pool—rendered with great chromatic variety and inventiveness—embraced by rocks and punctuated by spray; distant islands appear on the horizon.

P.S. Read here about Florence Griswold – “Patron Saint” of American Impressionism!