These Artists Will Change Your Mind About Winter: MFA Boston

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Tue Dec 22, 2020, 04:09 AM - Edit history (1)

- Cottages In Winter by Frits Thaulow, 1891.

NPR, Dec. 21, 2020.

I hate snow. Which means I most especially hate this week of the year. The week winter begins. It means snow could come. Or, G*d help us, snow is already here. I know, bah humbug. Still ...

I did like it once. Laughed my way through an 8-foot snowstorm years ago in Boston. But I was young. Now ... not so much. Although every time I look at this painting, it takes me back to those happy Boston snow days.

Frederick Childe Hassam (he never used the Frederick; a friend told him Childe was 'more exotic') was born in Boston and early on began painting cityscapes. At Dusk (Boston Common at Twilight) was his first. I visit the picture every time I'm at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and a postcard of it is taped up next to my bed. It exactly captures how I felt in the three winters I spent there. Cold. A little melancholy at sundown. But mostly content, loving the crisp air, the charming old buildings, the smell of the park. And the pink twilight.



- Childe Hassam, 'At Dusk' (Boston Common at Twilight), 1885-1886.

Museum of Fine Arts curator Erica Hirshler says in 1885, Hassam was painting modern Boston — new buildings lining the left side of the street, electric street lamps (not gas). "And the fact that the woman is walking unchaperoned in the city reflects a different way that women interacted in an urban environment." She and the little girls all carry muffs to keep their hands warm. Except for the muffs and a few other details, the place looks just the same today.

Hassam was an American impressionist. Camille Pissarro was a Danish French one who influenced Paul Gauguin and painted with Paul Cézanne. His gorgeous snowy scene looks like iced lace. Pissarro's snow barely has any white in it. If you look closely, you'll see blues, pinks, yellows. Curator Hirshler points out, "Each separate color remains distinct but blends to say 'snow.' "

All these pictures are in the MFA's collection (the museum just closed again — pandemic). They know their snow in Boston. And they introduced me to a Norwegian artist who not only knew snow but had some truly original perspectives on it. Look how that snowy hill just spills toward us. It takes up three-quarters of the painting. Frits Thaulow puts the horizon line almost at the top of his canvas. Very modern. You don't see much of anything but the snow and its shadows (and again, so many colors in this snow — the shadow is almost lavender). This fellow Thaulow makes a world in his snow. There weren't any ski lifts in the 19th century. That's why he paints those footprints, going up the hill...

More, https://www.npr.org/2020/12/21/946418719/these-artists-will-change-your-mind-about-winter



- Camille Pissarro, 'Morning Sunlight on the Snow, Eragny-sur-Epte,' 1895.

[sheshe2]

1. I am from west of Boston.

When I was younger I loved it. It was beautiful.

However I am so much older now and shoveling is not easy.

Thank you for the beautiful pictures.

[Marie Marie]

2. I hear ya sheshe - I used to love snow and it still is beautiful BUT,

the shoveling is getting harder. I just keep repeating to myself, over and over: Think of all the calories you are burning right now. Then, I finish and go in and eat chocolate.

[sheshe2]

5. We had a foot of snow the other day.

I usually am up all night keeping up with it. Not that night. The next day I could barely open my door. It is just me and sister here. my apartment and her house. We take care of mom.

I made it to the landing and my neighbor yelled to me from the lane, came up and told me to go inside that she and her boyfriend would take care of it. She had just come off her night shift, State Trooper. She shoveled and he brought the plow to get the walkway. We have a guy that does the driveway. Such a kind thing for them to do.

Their kindness overwhelmed me. Good peeps out there.

[CatMor]

3. I agree sheshe it is beautiful ...

I live in a snow area and what I hate is driving in it. Otherwise, I love having four seasons.

[sheshe2]

6. With COVID and retired...

I don't drive much!

[CatMor]

7. Actually I dont drive much anymore either...

I had to retire from my business because of covid and
being an at risk person.

[Bayard]

4. Those are beautiful--thanks!

I am much more of a weenie about snow now, than in my younger days.

[Croney]

8. Our Cambridge yard. Hubby rocked the snowblower.

[appalachiablue]

9. Lovely, a real winter scene & great space for gardening.

The first time in Boston was winter break from college many years ago. Cars were triple parked because of the banks of snow and we shivered but had fun walking around the city and Cambridge to see the sites- the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the H. bookstore and a cute pub near the college from what I remember. It was enjoyable and cold, brr! Later visits included seeing more of Boston Common, Copley Square, the Shaw Memorial and Salem.