Brittany Barns 1910

Childe Hassam made this pastel drawing, Brittany Barns, while travelling in France at the end of the nineteenth century. It depicts traditional farm buildings and a figure in regional dress. Hassam was an American artist influenced by French Impressionism, a style that broke with academic art to represent everyday subjects and the fleeting effects of light. At the time, Brittany was a popular location for artists seeking rural subjects, as the region's distinct culture had been preserved through its relative geographical isolation. We see that Brittany was still, at this time, maintaining its architectural and cultural traditions. Looking closely at the image, you can see how Hassam uses short strokes of color to capture the rough texture of the buildings and the vibrant greens of the landscape. Works like this are valuable historical documents. By consulting travel journals, letters, and other records from the period, we can build a picture of the ways artists encountered and represented different cultures. In doing so, we can come to a much clearer understanding of cultural exchange, class, and national identity.