Une Averse—rue Bonaparte

Painted in Paris during Childe Hassam’s formative three-year stay in 1886–1889, Une Averse—rue Bonaparte marks an important advance in the artist’s portrayal of the modern city as he came under the influence of French impressionism, with its emphasis on everyday subjects captured in rapid, broken brushwork and scintillating light effects. In a seemingly casual composition distinguished by deeply receding diagonals and cropped figures in the foreground, Hassam portrays the rainy street as a byway for a complex mix of urban dwellers: fashionable bourgeois pedestrians under umbrellas; a toiling laborer and his daughter, bareheaded as they trudge beneath our gaze; and, across the street, liveried drivers chatting as they await passengers for the black cabs lined up along the curb. The scene is set in a fashionable central quarter of Paris, on the left bank by Place Saint Sulpice, with its magnificent seventeenth-century church and renowned Medici Fountain. Hassam’s view ignores these famous sights, however, avoiding the familiar, more picturesque or glamorous, image of Paris. The Luxembourg Garden, for example, is only just visible in the far distance beyond the small mansard-roofed house at the street’s end, and the bill-plastered wall separating the Rue Bonaparte from the grounds of the seminary of Saint Sulpice evinces modern urbanism’s accidental juxtaposition of the sacred and historical with the commercial and contemporary. The rainy-day setting, with its bright but overcast sky, pools of water on the pavement, and sheen on black umbrellas and cab roofs, contributes to the suggestion of an unselfconsciously quotidian Paris as experienced not by the foreign tourist but by an ordinary resident.

Since launching his career as an oil painter in the mid-1880s with a series of images of Boston, Hassam had been attracted to the rainy day settings that, with their vivid effects of reflecting water, appealed to other modern painters; he had also explored deep recession into space, using compositional formulae that contrast the verticality of urban buildings with plunging vistas of straight streets. These early urban views emphasize a range of light and dark values through a muted palette organized around a single shade. In Une Averse—rue Bonaparte, in contrast, Hassam treated the familiar rainy-day urban scene with a new concern for the tactile expression of light on glistening surfaces, employing patchy brushstrokes and stronger, lighter color. His portrayal of the urban social mix, which acknowledges glaring disparities of wealth and status while sidestepping a frank engagement with issues of social justice, ultimately stamps Hassam’s urban imagery with the reticent gentility that characterizes the work of many American impressionist painters.

This ambitious work was Hassam’s first major painting of Paris and scored a coup for the young artist when it was included in the prestigious annual exhibition at Paris’s Salon des Beaux Arts of 1887, where it received high praise from both French and American reviewers. In the following years, Hassam sent it to other important exhibitions in the United States, including the grand art display at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Les ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artistes vivants, Palais des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France [Painting Section, Paris Salon, France], May 1, 1887 (opening), no. 1181 (as Une Averse;-rue Bonaparte). [exh. cat.]

Exhibition (one week after 1887 Paris Salon closed), Goupil & Co., Paris, France, 1887.

American Paintings and Sculpture, American Art Galleries, Madison Square South, New York, Fall Exhibition, December 1, 1887 (opening), no. 140 (as A Shower-Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Fifty-Eighth Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 16–March 29, 1888, no. 156 (as A Shower-rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Eighth Annual Exposition, St. Louis Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, September 2–October 17, 1891, no. 138 (as A Cab Stand-Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Retrospective Exhibition, Society of American Artists, New York, New York, December 5–25, 1892, no. 164 (as La Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1893, no. 833 (as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Catalogue of Oil Paintings, Water Colors and Pastels by Childe Hassam, American Art Galleries, New York, New York, February 6–7, 1896, no. 100 (as La Rue Bonaparte).

Childe Hassam, 1859–1935, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, February 18–March 7, 1964.

Childe Hassam: A Retrospective Exhibition, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer). Venues: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., April 30–August 1, 1965; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, August 17–September 19, 1965; The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, September 28–October 31, 1965; The Gallery of Modern Art, New York, New York, November 16–December 19, 1965 (as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte). [exh. cat.]

Impressionistes Américains (American Impressionists), Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Washington, D.C. (organizer). Venues: Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, France, March 31–May 20, 1982; National Gallery, East Berlin, Germany Democratic Republic, June 15–July 25, 1982; Museum Moderner Kunst, Schweizergarten, Vienna, Austria, August 15–September 25, 1982; Art Museum, Socialist Republic, Bucharest, Romania, October 24–November 24, 1982; National Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, December 26, 1982–January 31, 1983 (as Une Averse, rue Bonaparte). [exh. cat.]

Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. (organizer). Venue: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 16-August 15, 1993 (as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Paris). [exh. cat.]

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–September 24, 1995 (on exhibit partial run). [exh. cat.]

Impressions of France: Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Their Rivals, South Bank Centre, London and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (organizer). Venue: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, October 4, 1995–January 14, 1996 (as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte). [exh. cat.]

Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 11–October 31, 1997.

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Giverny: une impression américaine (Giverny, An American Impression), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 1, 1998.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form) (as Une Averse, rue Bonaparte). [exh. cat.]

American Artists in France, 1860–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 10–June 3, 2001.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 2001 (as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte).

Childe Hassam (1859–1935): Transatlantic Impressions, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 16–April 28, 2002 (as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte).

Paris-New York, aller-retour. Une Modernité américaine en formation, 1875–1940. Oeuvres des collections de la Terra Foundation for the Arts et des Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (Paris-New York, Roundtrip. American Modernism in the Making, 1875–1940. Works from the Terra Foundation for the Arts and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002. [exh. cat.]

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Childe Hassam (1859–1935) Retrospective, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (organizer). Venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, June 7–September 12, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2005–May 16, 2006.

Les artistes américaines et le Louvre (American Artists andf the Louvre), Musée du Louvre, Paris, France and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, June 14–September 18, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, June 2008–October 2012.

Art Across America, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: National Museum of Korea, Seoul, February 4– May 12, 2013; Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea, June 7–September 1, 2013. [exh. cat.]

American Impressionism: a New Vision, 1880–1900 (L'Impressionnisme et les Américains/ Impresionismo Americano (French & Spanish titles), Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France and the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (organizers). Venues: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, Giverny, France, March 28–June 29, 2014; Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, July 19–October 19, 2014; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain, November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015. [exh. cat.]

Childe Hassam Papers, Archives of American Art, microfilm roll no. NAA-1, frame no. 505.

Child, Theodore. “The Paris Salon of 1887.” The Art Amateur 16, no. 6 (May 1887): 125-127. Text p. 126 (as La Rue Bonaparte).

"The American Art Association." The Critic (December 10, 1887): 303.

"Fine Arts. American Art Association." The Nation 45 (December 15, 1887): 491–92.

"III. American Art Galleries." The Art Review 2 (December 1887): 90.

Hale, Susan. "Review." Boston Transcript (1887). (From Childe Hassam Papers, Archives of American Art, microfilm reel no. NAA-1, frame no. 489).

E.W.M. Boston Transcript (1887) (as Shower-Rue Bonaparte from Childe Hassam Papers, Archives of American Art, microfilm reel no. NAA-1, frame no. 509).

Chicago Times (1887) (as Une Averse, La Rue Bonaparte from Childe Hassam Papers, Archives of American Art, microfilm reel no. NAA-1, frame no. 509).

Explication des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture, Gravure et Lithographie des Artistes Vivantes... (exh. cat., Palais des Champs-Élysées). Paris: Paul Dupont, 1887. Text (checklist), cat. no. 1181.

Robinson, Frank T. Living New England Artists. Boston, Massachusetts: S.E. Cassino, 1888. Text pp. 105; ill. p. 107.

"Society of American Artists-Its Retrospective Exhibition. (Second Notice)." New York Daily Tribune (December 8, 1892): 7. Text p. 7 (as La Rue Bonaparte).

"Paintings for the World's Fair." The Studio 8 (February 11, 1893): 1.

Department of Fine Arts, ed. World's Columbian Exposition, Official Publications, Revised Catalogue, Department of Fine Arts. Chicago, Illinois: W.B. Conkey Company, 1893. No. 833.

"Pictures by Childe Hassam." The New York Times (February 2, 1896): 21.

"First Night Sale of Hassam Pictures." The New York Times 7 (February 1896): 3.

Childe Hassam Interview, January 31, 1927, DeWitt Lockman Papers, Archives of American Art, microfilm roll no. 503, frame no. 333.

Adams, Adeline. Childe Hassam. New York: Academy of Arts and Letters, 1938. p. 34.

Childe Hassam: A Retrospective Exhibition. (exh. cat., The Corcoran Gallery of Art). Washington, D.C.: The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1965. Text pp. 17, 25 (checklist); cat. no. 6, p. 14 (black & white as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte).

American Paintings for Public and Private Collections. (exh. cat., Hirschl & Adler Galleries). New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1967. Pl. 46 (color).

Prown, Jules David. American Painting: From Its Beginnings to the Armory Show. Switzerland: Skira Publishing Company, 1969. Text p. 121; ill. p. 121 (as Rainy Day, Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Kramer, Hilton. “In the Genteel Tradition.” New York Times (July 14, 1968): D25. Text p. D25.

Cohen, George M. A History of American Art. New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc., 1971. p. 151.

American Art Review (November-December 1975). ill.

Hoopes, Donelson F. Childe Hassam. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1979. Text pp. 13, 26; pl. 3, p. 27 (color as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte).

Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. (exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery). Seattle, Washington: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 1980. Text p. 58 (as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte).

Feld, Stuart. Childe Hassam. (exh. cat., Guild Hall Museum). East Hampton, New York: Guild Hall Museum, 1981. Text pp. 8, 26 (as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte).

Impressionnistes Américains. (exh. cat., Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, 1982. Text pp. 28-29; ill. no. 24, p. 28 (color as Une averse, rue Bonaparte).

Lines of Different Character: American Art from 1727 to 1947. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., 1982. Text p. 62 (as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte).

Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1984. Text 94, 96; pl. 98, p. 95 (black & white as Une Averse, rue Bonaparte).

Joyaux, Alain G., Brian A. Moore, and Ned H. Griner. Childe Hassam in Indiana. (exh. cat., Ball State University Art Gallery). Muncie, Indiana: Ball State University Art Gallery, 1985. Text p. 28.

Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1876–1913. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1989. Text p. 240, no. 156 (as A Shower: rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Fink, Lois Marie. American Art at the Nineteenth-Century Paris Salons. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Text p. 353, no. P-1181.

The Magazine Antiques (November 1993): 562. Ill. p. 562 (color as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte (Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Paris)).

Rydell, Robert W. and Carolyn Kinder Carr. Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair. (exh. cat., National Museum of American Art). Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, National Portrait Gallery, 1993. Ill. pp. 183 (color), 258 (black & white as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Beels, Jessical Holmes. “Review: Finding Culture in Art: “Revisiting the White City.” Winterthur Portfolio 28, no. 2/3 (Summer-Autumn 1993): 167-175. Text p. 170 (as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Kilian, Michael. “Art Lessons at the 1893 World’s Fair, the Pictures Told a Story.” Chicago Tribune (May 16, 1993): 18. Text p. 18.

Hiesinger, Ulrich W. Childe Hassam: American Impressionist. Munich and New York: Prestel, 1994. Text pp. 32, 34; fig. 24, p. 33 (color as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte).

House, John et al. Landscapes of France: Impressionism and Its Rivals. London, England: Hayward Gallery, 1995. Text p. 168; ill. p. 169 (color as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte).

Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris. (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text pp. 39-40; ill. p. 38 (color).

Broun, Elizabeth. "Childe Hassam's America." American Art 13, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 32–58. Fig. 2, p. 35 (black & white as Une Averse, Rue Bonaparte (Rain Shower, Rue Bonaparte)).

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 24 (checklist).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 24 (checklist).

Adelson, Warren, Jay E. Cantor, and William H. Gerdts. Childe Hassam: An American Impressionist. (exh. cat., Adelson Galleries, Inc.). New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1999. Text pp. 129–31; pl. 137, p. 130 (color as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte).

Grimm, Esther. Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Frederick Childe Hassam. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 2001. Ill. (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 100, 197; ill. pp. 101 (color), 197 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 100, 197; ill. pp. 101 (color), 197 (black & white).

Artner, Alan G. “Where’s the art? Key pieces are missing from Terra’s impressive Hassam show.” Chicago Tribune (April 11, 2002): section 5, p. 8. Text p. 8; ill. p. 8 (as Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte, Paris).

Griffith, Bronwyn and Lee A. Vedder. Paris-New York, aller-retour. (New York-Paris Round Trip). (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain, Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text p. 16 (French), 85–6 (English), 106 (checklist); fig. 1, p. 15 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 21, 28 (checklist); fig. 8, p. 21 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 21, 28 (checklist); fig. 8, p. 21 (black & white).

Weinberg, H. Barbara. Childe Hassam: American Impressionist. (exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004. Text pp. 60-62, 63, 83n, 106, 182, 345, no. 10, p. 406; fig. 54, p. 60 (color).

Weinberg, H. Barbara. "Childe Hassam: Patterns of Appreciation." The Magazine Antiques 166:1 (July 2004): 86-95. Pl. XII, p. 94 (color).

Kernan, Nathan. “Childe Hassam. New York.” The Burlington Magazine 146, no. 1218 (September 2004): 643–644. Text p. 643.

Kilian, Michael. “Childe Hassam: Truly American.” Chicago Tribune (July 29, 2004): section 5, 11. Text section 5, p. 11.

Kennedy, Elizabeth. "American Artists and the Louvre." American Art Review (June 2006): 98–107. Text p. 99; ill. p. 99 (color).

Kennedy, Elizabeth and Olivier Meslay, eds. American Artists and the Louvre. (exh. cat., Musée du Louvre). Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art; Paris: Musée du Louvre; Paris: Éditions Hazan; Paris: ADAGP, 2006. Text cat. 17, pp. 124; ill. p. 124–125 (color).

Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation. (exh. cat., National Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Museum). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Chinese and English version; citing English version). Text p. 155; ill. p. 166 (color).

Wright, Nancy H. “Urban Perspectives and the Modern City in the works of Gustave Caillebotte and Childe Hassam.” Master’s Thesis, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. Text pp. viii (List of Figures), 19–20, 28, 30; ill. p. 43, figure 5.

Art Across America. (exh. cat., National Museum of Korea, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Seoul, South Korea: National Museum of Korea, 2013. (English and Korean versions). Text pp. 37, 216–217; ill. fig. 31, p. 38 (color), p. 216–217 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. American Impressionism: A New Vision 1880–1900. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Giverny, France: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, 2014. Text pp. 33, 50; ill. p. 88 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. L’impressionnisme et les Américains. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Giverny, France: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, 2014. Text pp. 33, 50; ill. p. 88 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. Impresionismo Americano. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Giverny, France: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, 2014. Text pp. 33, 50; ill. p. 88 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 116–117, 132; fig. 2, p. 116; ill. p. 132 (color).

Carr, Carolyn Kinder. Sara Tyson Hallowell: Pioneer Curator and Art Advisor in the Gilded Age. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2019. Text pp. 54, 130.