Gilded Age Art of Childe Hassam and James McNeil Whistler

Childe Hassam was born in Boston in 1859 and, like Winslow Homer, began his career as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly but had little formal art training. After travels to Europe, he returned to New England during the Gilded Age and joined the American impressionists who were transforming painting in America. James McNeil Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1834, was dismissed from West Point, and then studied art in Paris. Although best known for painting "Whistler's Mother," he created timeless portraits of other women with titles inspired by music while fighting a sensational lawsuit to defend his artistic reputation.