Flags, Columbus Circle 1918

Childe Hassam made this watercolor of Columbus Circle sometime during his impressive career. I'm struck by the freedom with which he's captured this urban scene; it's all about the gesture, the feeling of a moment. Look at the way the buildings are suggested with these quick, almost scribbled lines. It's like he's sketching with color. And those flags! They dominate the scene, yet they're just a flurry of red, white, and blue, like they're buzzing with energy. You can almost feel the wind. I love how he uses the white of the paper to his advantage, letting it stand in for the snowy ground. It's all so light and airy, but at the same time, there's a real sense of place. In the bottom-left corner is a streetcar, picked out in yellows and greens. A similar scene appears in some of the work of John Sloan, another painter drawn to document everyday city life, but Hassam finds an elegance in the moment which chimes with Whistler’s aestheticism. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, with each artist building on what came before.