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Childe Hassam(American, 1859-1935)The MacKaye Spectatorium with Iowa pavillion in foreground, Columbian Exposition, 1893 24 x 36in
US$80,000 - US$120,000
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Find your local specialistChilde Hassam (American, 1859-1935)
signed and dated 'Childe/Hassam/1893' (lower left)
watercolor over pencil on paper
24 x 36in
Footnotes
PROVENANCE:
James Morrison Steele MacKaye
Percy MacKaye
J.N. Bartfield Galleries, New York
M.R. Schweitzer Gallery, New York
Private collection
sale, Sotheby's New York December 1, 1994 lot 11
EXHIBITED:
Yonkers, New York, The Hudson River Museum, Theatrical Evolution in America: 1776-1976, March 22- June 28, 1976
LITERATURE:
The Life of Steele MacKaye: A Memoir by His Son Percy MacKaye,New York,1927,vol. 2, p.392, illustrated pl. 86
Stanley Applebaum, The Chicago World's Fair of 1893: A Photographic Record, New York, 1980, p.83, illustrated p.85,87
The MacKaye Spectatorium at the Columbian Exposition was the brainchild of Steele MacKaye the famous American actor, playwright and theater managers. The 360,000 square foot theater was to be a marvel of the theatrical world. It was intended to hold 10,000 spectators and have a retractable stage over pool that would allow for actual boats to be floated in to tell the story of Columbus' voyage. Alas, construction was halted due to the financial panic of 1893.
Hassam's watercolor remains one of the few record we have for what the building was intended to be. There are few photographs of the the building under construction as it was situated outside of the fairgrounds at the 56th street pier. It appears in the background of some general views of the fair with its hulking, framed presence looming over the Iowa pavilion.
Hassam has executed an almost architectural elevation of a large theater at the extreme North end of the exposition. It is an imaginary view from the lake looking Northwest with the building dominating the space and dwarfing the Iowa pavilion in the foreground. According to Kathleen Burnside, the artist was known to do a number of watercolors of buildings from the exposition and that in their technique departs from his standard methods. In this work as well as the others he relies on areas of rather precise pencil underdrawings for the architectural elements. It appears that he had been tasked by the promoters of the exposition to produce renderings in advance of the actual construction.