1940.80
New York Skyline, Light Buildings
Artist
Childe Hassam
(Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1859 - 1935, East Hampton, New York)
Title
New York Skyline, Light Buildings
Creation Date
1918
Dimensions
8 1/8 in. x 13 1/4 in. (20.64 cm. x 33.65 cm.)
Object Type
print
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
lithograph on paper
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Maud Hassam
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
1940.80
In 1915, at the advanced age of fifty-six, painter Childe Hassam began to experiment with printmaking. Hassam's rendering of New York City's skyline from across the East River relies on a strict economy of line that serves to emphasize the solidity of the buildings. While this late turn to printmaking seems surprising, it presented an opportunity for the artist to sell artwork in an increasingly weakened market for paintings. In an economy strained by recessions of the late 1890s and World War I, prints were less expensive to produce and purchase than paintings. By grouping his prints in sets of related views (featuring New England, New York, East Hampton and even the Southwest) Hassam created a marketing strategy that invited sustained commitment on the part of collectors. Despite his efforts, Hassam's graphic work in this style proved a commercial failure, with the artist lamenting: "Not doing ducks and dogs, my prints are rarely very successful." Seeing printmaking as an opportunity to further his painterly ideas through line and plane, Hassam continued to make prints until his death in 1935.
