Alfred Hassam

Childe Hassam carried a sketchbook like a second diary, doodling wherever he paused, street corners, park benches, even crowded ferries. He loved the grit of cities: smoke, steam, and the way sunlight bounces off wet pavement. One afternoon he sketched a man draped in Arab robes, smoking a hookah in downtown Boston, then turned it into a watercolor that feels like a snapshot from another life.

Find it in Gallery Tiles and you’ll see why he kept the details loose but the mood exact.