During the summers of 1906 and 1907, Hassam painted dramatic scenes of Sylph’s Rock off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at an artist’s colony on Appledore Island. With horizontal brushstrokes of broken colors, Sylph’s Rock depicts reflective light dazzling the massive granite boulder protruding into the ocean, as well as the turbulent waves dashing against its algae-covered ledges. Deeply aware of the transience of nature, Hassam captured Appledore Island at different vantage points and circumstances to explore the idea that no location was ever the same place twice.

Childe Hassan, 1907,
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA, 12/01/19