Aaron Anderson
Specialist, Head of Sale
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF WILLIAM DANA LIPPMAN
Lot 52
Childe Hassam(1859-1935)White Island Light, Isles of Shoals 22 3/8 x 15 3/8 in. (56.8 x 39.1 cm.)
7 November 2023, 14:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$51,200 inc. premium
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Childe Hassam (1859-1935)
White Island Light, Isles of Shoals
signed with the artist's crescent device, inscribed and dated 'Childe / Hassam Isles of Shoals / 1886 Aug 15' (lower right)
watercolor on paper
22 3/8 x 15 3/8 in. (56.8 x 39.1 cm.)
Executed in 1886.
signed with the artist's crescent device, inscribed and dated 'Childe / Hassam Isles of Shoals / 1886 Aug 15' (lower right)
watercolor on paper
22 3/8 x 15 3/8 in. (56.8 x 39.1 cm.)
Executed in 1886.
Footnotes
Provenance
Celia (née Laighton) Thaxter (1835-1894), Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals, Maine, gift from the artist.
Cedric Laighton (1839-1899), Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals, Maine, brother of the above, by descent from the above, 1894.
Margaret M. (née Laighton) Forbes (1885-1966), Cambridge, Massachusetts, daughter of the above, by descent from the above, 1899.
Elliot Forbes (1917-2006), Cambridge, Massachusetts, son of the above, by descent from the above, 1966.
Private collection, New England, by descent from the above, 2006.
Acquired by the late owner under the auspices of Roberto Freitas from the above, May 30, 2019.
This work will be included in Stuart P. Feld's and Kathleen M. Burnside's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work.
Childe Hassam's White Island Light, Isles of Shoals executed in 1886 is one of the earliest dated works that Hassam produced on the Isle of Shoals, a group of islands off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. The present work is one in a small series of works that Hassam executed in 1886 before departing for Paris that same year that depicts the lighthouse on White Island, arguably the most identifiable structure on the Isles of Shoals. The Shoals served as a haven and muse where Hassam could create his paeans to the natural beauty of the surroundings which were unlike any other he had access to.
Hassam was introduced to the landscape of the Isle of Shoals through his friendship with American writer, Celia (née Laighton) Thaxter (1835-1894). Thaxter's family operated a hotel on Appledore, the largest island at the Shoals, and it was at her home that she formed an informal salon, attracting artists, musicians, and fellow writers. It was also at her home where she cultivated her celebrated flower garden that provided Hassam with ample inspiration during his visits to the island. Recounting his time spent on the Isle of Shoals, Hassam remarked, "Celia Thaxter made the islands known to a great many—in those far-off days I painted there...many pleasant summers." (Letter from Childe Hassam to Mrs. McClellan, 1929, as quoted in D.P. Curry, Childe Hassam: An Island Garden Revisited, New York, 1990, p. 13)
Hassam is believed to have gifted the present work to Thaxter before it descended into the collection of her brother, Cedric Laighton (1839-1899) in 1894 upon her death. The work eventually descended to Cedric's daughter, Margaret M. (née Laighton) Forbes (1885-1966) who in 1907 married Edward Waldo Forbes (1873-1969), grandson of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and a member of the prominent Forbes Family, a component of the Boston Brahmins. Forbes was a well-respected art historian and served as the director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University from 1909 to 1944.