Description:

Childe Hassam: “Any art school in the United States is good!”

A 2pp autograph letter signed by American Impressionist painter Frederick Childe Hassam (1859-1935), as "Childe Hassam," complete with the crescent moon / slash flourish preceding his signature, found at the center of the third page. Written at Hassam's art studio/residence at 130 West 57th Street in New York City in 1928 (the date looks like it is March 3rd, but the handwriting is a little unclear.) On bifold stationery with "130 West 57th Street" letterhead. The second and last pages are blank. Expected paper folds and some grubbiness to the edges. Lightly pencil inscribed by a former collector on the last page. 5.125" x 6.5." Provenance: Ex-Noel Goldblatt (ca. 1926-2003) of the famous Goldblatt's Department Store, to a prominent Los Angeles, California collector.

Childe Hassam wrote a correspondent named Miss Stephens, in part: "It is only by the merest accident that I am able to answer your letters - Any art school in the United States is good! And any others in Europe are bad!...Whither you do [or] do not study abroad!"

Hassam's attitude towards artistic education is nuanced, but not inconsistent with his personal experience. Hassam received both an American and European artistic education. As a young man in the early 1880s, Hassam attended drawing classes at the Lowell Institute and the Boston Art Club. He then traveled through Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands on an abbreviated Grand Tour. In the mid-1880s, Hassam enrolled at the Académie Julian, a prestigious private art school in Paris founded by French painter Rodolphe Julian in 1867. He benefited from the initial in-person instruction, but ultimately decided that "[t]he Julian academy is the personification of routine…[art school] crushes all originality out of growing men. It tends to put them in a rut and it keeps them in it…" Perhaps Hassam believed that American art schools fostered more individual creativity.

Hassam lived at 130 West 57th Street in a cooperative which opened in 1907. It was specifically designed to offer affordable dual housing and studio spaces to working artists and other creative professionals. The building in midtown Manhattan just blocks away from Central Park was home to artists like Hassam, as well as to writers, architects, and actors. Architectural features of the building, as well as the neighborhood, can be seen in some of Hassam's paintings, such as "Flags on 57th Street" (1918).

In the early 1880s, Hassam made two significant changes to his professional name and signature. He dropped his first name, Frederick, to become "Childe Hassam," and also added an Islamic-inspired crescent moon symbol to the left of his signature. Over time, this crescent moon become more and more indistinct until it became a simple diagonal slash, as you can see on display here.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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September 29, 2021 10:30 AM EDT
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