9/8 Assignment

This is Hassam’s painting, “Rain Storm, Union Square” painted in 1890.

This is the current day photo of the scene that Hassam painted

This painting is “Rain Storm, Union Square” by Childe Hassam, painted in 1890. In order to find the location of his painting, I explored Union Square and found a monument which seemed eerily similar to the one found in the painting. Although the modern day photo shows a fountain, the painting does not. I believe that over time, the fountain was added; however, the location and steps of the fountain in both the photo and painting are the same. The background of the painting is 14^th Street and Broadway. Today, there are many stores and it is extremely difficult to see the background because of the trees. However, the street grid and location of buildings aligned and the street location in the painting matches with the one in the photo. The subject in my photo is a little more to the right than the woman in the photo. Although it is a rainy day in the photo, it was extremely sunny in Union Square. Hassam painted his scene from level ground as can be seen by the level perspective and standing in the exact place where he painted his picture from was an astonishing experience. The difference between modern day Union Square and the one shown in the photo is startling, yet the similarities are striking as well. The monument in the middle, the trees, the gates and the location of stores remain the same. The differences are the greater number of people, the abundance of stores and the addition of the fountain to the monument. Hassam probably stood in the exact same place I did as the size of the monument and distance to the monument in the picture in comparison to the painting is very similar. The distance between the monument, the gates and the street in the background surrounded by buildings is also parallel. The vanishing point in the painting is on the top left side but cannot be seen in the picture because of the trees and addition of buildings since 1890 to the scene.