Rainy Day, Columbus Avenue, Boston 1886

Childe Hassam captured this scene of Columbus Avenue in Boston using watercolor, a medium that perfectly conveys the atmospheric effects of a rainy day. Consider the material qualities of watercolor: its fluidity, its transparency, and its capacity to blend and bleed. These inherent qualities allowed Hassam to create a sense of light and movement, capturing the reflections on the wet pavement and the hazy outlines of buildings and figures. The washes of color evoke the dampness and chill of the urban environment, with the strokes of the brush mimicking the unpredictable patterns of rainfall. What’s interesting here is that Hassam makes a virtue of contingency. Unlike oil painting, which allows for layering and correction, watercolor demands a certain spontaneity and risk-taking, so Hassam had to work quickly and intuitively, embracing the accidental effects and imperfections that arise in the process. This approach mirrors the fleeting and transient nature of modern urban life, which Hassam sought to capture in his art. So think about the painting not just as an image, but as a record of embodied experience and the social conditions that gave rise to it.