In the fall of 1886, Childe Hassam embarked on a three year trip to Paris to study at the Académie Julian under the French academic system. During this t.mes , Hassam found himself particularly drawn to Parisian street scenes and capturing moments of everyday life. Within his first year, his work Cab Station, Rue Bonaparte was accepted to the Salon of 1887, an exceptional feat for a visiting American artist. This achievement was a test.mes nt to Hassam’s wealth of experience illustrating outdoor scenes back in his hometown of Boston. Picturesque and saturated with color, flower vendors became a favored subject for Hassam in the late 1890s. Corner Flower Shop, completed in May of 1889, highlights the artist’s affinity for Parisian shopkeepers and their patrons.

Amidst the generally grey and overcast Parisian sky, depicting flower shops allowed Hassam to imbed color and light into his compositions. The present work shows an elegantly dressed woman holding her baby as she eyes the bountiful selection of bouquets. Beside her, a sleek woman in black converses with the shop owner positioned between the pots. Hassam’s fleeting brushstrokes and subtle gradation of colors in Corner Flower Shop is emblematic of the Impressionist movement that lured him to Paris in the first place.

Flower Girl, another of Hassam’s street scenes, hones in on a young woman selling her wares, identifiable by her white neck bow and apron. Once again, the vibrancy of these blossoms adds much desired contrast to the otherwise monotonous hues of the surrounding environment. Raised in the states but living abroad, Hassam quickly garnered support from American and French audiences alike. “It is safe to predict that Hassam is sure to become one of the strongest painters this country ever produced,” Frank T. Robinson said of the celebrated American Impressionist in his 1888 book, Living New England Artists: Biographical Sketches (H. Barbara Weinberg, Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New Haven, 2004, p. 78). It is his illustrations of city life in particular that set Hassam apart from his contemporaries, who often concentrated on quiet interior scenes or peaceful landscapes. Corner Flower Shop is small-scale yet packed with detail, depth of color and dynamic interactions between its subjects. In that sense, it succeeds in capturing the burgeoning city as one full of prosperity and opportunity - qualities in a painting that appealed to French citizens as well as Americans eager to learn about the vivacity of life abroad.