I chose show Union Square in its past and present state. I couldn’t get the right angle, but I did the best that I could.
Taking the picture from the 6th floor of a department store obviously gave me a different perspective than that of Hassam’s painting. While the vanishing points of both pictures is in the middle, Hassam’s lies near the top-center while mine lies dead center. You can see rooftops in the painting, which shows that Hassam painted this at a higher elevation level than I was able to achieve.
Now at Union Square, there’s a dog park, playground, tourist center, and varying booths and shops. The Farmers’s Market (also known as the Greenmarket) is also there on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. While Hassam’s Union Square has plenty of grass and open area, today’s Union Square is mostly paved. The pond that resides in the painting is no longer there today. There are also more trees, obscuring the building that we see in the center of Hassam’s painting (which today is now Barnes & Noble). The Empire State Building can be seen in both pictures (though the photograph Empire is bigger, suggesting that Hassam painted from a further viewpoint). And while Hassam’s Union Square has a few people, I’m pretty sure hundreds or even thousands now frequent the area today.
Malanie,
You chose a hard picture to replicate. You might have had to climb up another building to find the perfect perspective. Hassam painted sitting at a private home you could not enter. Would you agree that his is more aireal? Try and read your draft before posting. You can always edit, if you find to add or clean up.
I edited my post.
I do agree that he was more aerial, and I believe that he painted from a further viewpoint. He’s lucky to have had access to that home.
I knew the picture would be hard to replicate, but I loved the striking differences between the Union Square of the past and that of it today. Unfortunately, the building that I took the picture from was the only one that gave the public access to the view at the highest possible level. The other stores had only two floors, which is not high at all for the elevation the painting achieved. But I love Union Square, and I love the dramatic parallel that I tried to obtain. I’m sorry if it’s not to your liking.
Dear Melanie,
Thank you for editing.
It has to be to your liking. All students who tackled this particular painting had the same dilemma.