Childe Hassam: At Dusk: Boston Common at Twilight - MFA Spotlight Series

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Marc Notes: In this vivid account of one of Boston's best-loved paintings, leading American art specialist Erica E. Hirshler illuminates the context of Childe Hassam's 1880s city scene. With its rosy rust tones, nurturing woman, and quiet expanse of snow-laden park, today 'At Dusk (Boston Common at Twilight)' seems to encourage reflection, yet Hirshler reveals the ways in which it heralded the emerging modern city, from subtleties about womens place in the urban landscape to the uproarious clang of the streetcars that would have been heard on the busiest block in Boston. Enriched with related paintings and archival illustrations, this evocative volume explores the countered conventions and bulldozed buildings behind the canvas creation.

Contributor Bio:  Hirshler, Erica E Erica E. Hirshler is Croll Senior Curator of Paintings in the Department of the Art of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Contributor Bio:  Hassam, Childe Childe (Frederick) Hassam was an American painter and etcher born in Dorchester, Massachusetts and educated at the Boston Art School and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His works include July 14 Rue Daunon (1910) and Church at Gloucester (1918), both in the Metropolitan Museum, New York City.