
In Tanagra (The Builders, New York), Childe Hassam painted an ambivalent image of modern life. At the turn of the twentieth century, the skyscraper symbolized all that was dynamic and powerful in America. Architects praised the new towers as symbols of mankind’s reach for the heavens. But as the United States grew in power and prestige, the workers who provided the nation’s muscle also seemed to threaten Hassam’s orderly and prosperous world. The artist had won fame and fortune picturing New York for the delight of its moneyed class; the art, music, and fine manners surrounding this “blond Aryan girl” provided a buffer against the unruliness of America’s immigrant society. If the skyscraper represents worldly ambition, the other vertical elements in the paintingthe lilies, the Hellenistic figurine, the panels of a beautiful oriental screensuggest a different kind of aspiration. But in 1918, the refined life this woman pursued in her elegant environment was already under attack by the reality of war and the clamor of a new century.
Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
- Title
-
Tanagra (The Builders, New York)
- Artist
- Date
- 1918
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 58 3⁄4 x 58 5⁄8 in. (149.2 x 149.0 cm)
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of John Gellatly
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Cityscape – New York – New York
- Object – furniture – screen
- Architecture Interior – detail – window
- Figure female – knee length
- Object – flower – narcissus
- Object Number
-
1929.6.63
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI