Flags on the Waldorf

Between 1916 and 1919, Childe Hassam painted more than thirty works collectively known as the “Avenue of the Allies paintings.” The name referred to the official occasions during World War I when Allied flags flew along New York’s Fifth Avenue in support of the war effort. This painting, however, predates America’s entry into the war and may depict the commemorative events held in 1916 marking the one-year anniversary of Germany’s sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915. The building at right is the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which was demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building.