Easthampton 1917

Curator: This is Childe Hassam's "Easthampton," a scene rendered with a striking etched quality. It feels both serene and subtly unsettling to me. Editor: Unsettling? I see the peace of a small town, the deep shade almost inviting. It feels representative of an older, perhaps exclusionary, version of American life. Curator: But the trees feel almost like watchful figures, the house looming in the background... it recalls the weight of history, the unseen stories held within the landscape. There’s a cultural memory embedded here. Editor: True, Hassam's Impressionism often romanticizes places, yet his subjects rarely include the diversity of lived experiences. It prompts reflection on who is visible, and who is erased from the narrative. Curator: Maybe that tension is precisely the point. The etching captures not just a place but also the complex layers of time and memory it holds, visible and invisible. Editor: I agree, and that tension resonates today as we confront legacies of place, power, and representation. It makes me consider whose Easthampton this really is.