In The Garden, Appledore, Hassam depicts the unruly garden of the poet and short story writer Celia Thaxter on Appledore Island in the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. Thaxter, who often invited poets and writers to her summer salons, had invited the American Impressionist painter and printmaker to Appledore House, a family owned and operated hotel adjacent to her private residence. Hassam would visit Appledore Island during many of the summers between 1890 and 1915.
He painted this watercolor in preparation for an illustration to An Island Garden, Thaxter’s 1894 book of poetry, prose and anecdotes related to the development of her garden. As she described it, The Garden, Appledore depicts poppies of:
‘[the] deepest crimson, richest scarlet, white with softest suffusion of rose; all shades of rose, clear light pink with sea-green centre, the anthers in a golden halo about it; black and fire-color; red that is deepened to black, with gray reflections; and cherry-colors.’
Hassam’s asymmetrical design and highly stylized signature, reminiscent of an artist’s chop, suggest the
example of Japanese prints, which were then greatly admired in New England artists’ colonies. Yet the image we see is not exactly as Hassam intended: regrettably, prolonged exposure to light has faded the once brilliant blue sea to a ghostly shadow, now visible only at the far left of the sheet. The dash of paint that appears to hover above the composition originally represented a boat floating on the water’s surface.
Despite the fading of the sea, the free brushwork and vibrant colors retain Hassam’s essential design: a tangle of flowers embedded in foliage set against a clean background.
AC 1950.9