they do not observe
walk blindly without trying
to see for themselves
For Flag Day … 2023
I painted the flag series after we went into the war. There was that Preparedness Day, and I looked up the avenue and saw these wonderful flags waving, and I painted the series of flag pictures after that.
I was always interested in the movements of humanity in the street… There is nothing so interesting to me as people. I am never tired of observing them in everyday life, as they hurry through the streets on business or saunter down the promenade on pleasure.
The man who will go down to posterity is the man who paints his own time and the scenes of everyday life around him.
The portrait of a city, you see, is in a way like the portrait of a person… The spirt, that’s what counts, and one should strive to portray the soul of a city with the same care as the soul of a sitter.
These small shows were decidedly a success. The exhibitions were not too large to be seen easily. It was not an effort, as larger collections of pictures usually are.
The true impressionism is realism. So many people do not observe. They take the ready-made axioms laid down by others, and walk blindly in a rut without trying to see for themselves.
Childe Hassam on himself.
No Haiku For You 