(Frederick) Childe Hassam
American Painter
1859-1935
The American impressionist painter and printmaker, Frederick Childe Hassam (chyld has'-uhm), was born Dorchester, MA, October 17, 1859, and died on August 27, 1935 He began his career as a wood engraver and early in his career he was a successful illustrator, particularly of children's in Boston. Later in his career he became a full-time painter.
In 1886, he studied in Paris and was influenced by the work of the Impressionists. Like them, Hassam portrayed the leisure life of the middle and upper classes and used rapid brushwork and large expanses of open space. Returning to the United States in 1889, he settled in New York City, where he painted people scurrying along snowy streets or strolling under flowering trees along broad avenues. Hassam was sensitive to the play of light and the subtlety of color patterns in landscapes and seascapes. He was famous for paintings of rainy street scenes in New York.