Plus 14 - Flags

Flags, 8x8, Oil on Gessoed Hardboard

Painted 7/1/14

For the Fourth of July, I decided to do another 'master study' of Childe Hassam - this time his painting, The Avenue in the Rain. This is the painting that hangs in the Oval Office of the White House. Childe Hassam's painting, not mine...

The Avenue in the Rain is a very abstract and gestural style of painting. The thing that got my attention immediately were the flag in the foreground and simply hints of flags moving back to the background.

The Avenue in the Rain, Childe Hassam, 1917

Now, looking at the painting and the composition, I totally understand the upper half of the painting. The bottom half, however, had me trying to figure out why he painted four pillars above a flag lying on the ground... I thought there might be some type of possible political statement in the bottom half, so I recomped my study to just the top half, which presents no questions nor assumptions.

I have since found out that Mr. Hassam was perhaps one of the most patriotic artists of the time, having painted a whole series of flag-themed paintings - most of which are owned and displayed in some of the most well known galleries in the U.S., in addition to the White House. I also found out that the pillars are people under umbrellas and the flag appearing on the ground is merely a reflection of the main subject above in the wetness of The Avenue in the Rain.

A beautifully simple painting, albeit a little too much mixed abstract and representational.

-- SMK