Interpretive Resource

Childe Hassam, a prominent practitioner of Impressionism in the United States, adapted the French style into a uniquely American idiom by imbuing his images with an identifiable sense of place. Favoring scenes he considered to be particularly "American," Hassam produced paintings of the streets of New York City, simple New England villages and churches, and tourist attractions such as Nantucket and Gloucester, Massachusetts. These works capture not only the appearance of these subjects but also the associations connected to them.

After returning from an extended stay in Paris in the late 1880s, Hassam often painted Appledore Island, off the coast of New Hampshire, where celebrated poet Celia Thaxter presided over an informal colony of writers and artists. This summer retreat offered a proliferation of wildflowers and a varied topography that allowed Hassam to fuse his burgeoning interests in Impressionist technique and American subjects. The Little Pond, Appledore features an identifiable location on the island, one with specific meaning for Hassam and other visitors. It is a site that was touched by tragedy: artist William Morris Hunt had drowned in the pond in 1879. Perhaps for this reason, Hassam set aside the vivid reds and blues he generally used to depict Appledore’s gardens, instead employing a more subdued, pastel palette. Sheltered from the ocean, which appears as a thin line of blue on the horizon, the pond is hugged by low-lying rocks and tall grasses painted in variegated tones. The scene is imbued with a sense of elegy, a silent and contemplative quality distinct from Hassam’s other work.