White island light (isles of shoals at sundown) 1899

Childe Hassam created "White Island Light" using oil paint on canvas, engaging with a painterly tradition rooted in materiality and process. Notice how Hassam's brushstrokes are deliberately visible, almost like individual units of labor. These dabs of paint, built up layer by layer, remind us of the physical act of creation. The rough, textured surface emphasizes the materiality of the paint itself, calling attention to its inherent qualities of viscosity and color. The painting's composition, depicting a rugged coastal landscape, further reinforces the connection to the physical world and the labor involved in navigating and inhabiting it. Hassam was associated with Impressionism, a style that often depicted scenes of leisure and middle-class life, but here, his rendering of the landscape evokes a sense of raw, untamed nature, with the lighthouse in the distance suggesting human intervention and control. The painting's emphasis on materiality and process challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, inviting us to consider the social and cultural significance of artistic labor.