Midsummer
Childe Hassam (1859-1935), Midsummer, etching, 1919, signed lower right and inscribed “imp” [also signed and dated in the plate]. Reference: Clayton/Cortissoz 150. In very good condition, with the usual drying holes and associated nicks at edges, printed on a cream wove paper with margins, 9 x 7, the sheet 9 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches.
A fine fresh and vivid impression of this great rarity.
Midsummer is printed on a sheet with a cancelled impression of The Greek Dance (C/C 91) verso; this was made a few years earlier (1916). Hassam is known to have saved preferred papers, and he may have felt, quite rightly, that Midsummer would have printed especially well on this paper (alternatively, he may have been running short on paper!).
Midsummer is rare; it is known to have been exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum in 1925, but only a few impressions are known to have appeared on the market.
Midsummer was made at Gloucester, Cape Ann.