One of the most prolific and creative exponents of American Impressionism, Childe Hassam (1859–1935) applied his distinctive vision to a range of themes over a long and varied career. Hassam’s aesthetic versatility was also manifested through his choice of media, which ranged from oil and watercolor to pastel, etching, and lithography. In 1976, Stuart Feld of Hirschl & Adler Galleries chose to devote his attention to Hassam and compile a complete directory of the artist’s known works in oil, watercolor, pastel, ink, and graphite. As the daunting project ramped up, Kathleen Burnside joined the project in 1979 and leads the critical cataloguing side of the project.
Fast-forward to 2020 and weeks of mandated at-home quarantine. The global COVID-19 pandemic has had unintended consequences for Feld and Burnside: ample time to enter data, and plenty of hours in the day in which to write. According to Burnside, “Self-quarantine has been a boon for data entry!” The team has uncovered a wealth of new information, much of which has never been published, and certainly never so thoroughly organized and accessible.