“Early Morning on the Avenue in May 1917,” Frederick Childe Hassam, oil on canvas, 1917; Addison Gallery of American Art.
Description from the Addison Gallery: “Early Morning on the Avenue in May 1917 belongs to a series of flag paintings that Frederick Childe Hassam created during World War I, between 1916 and 1919. Totaling nearly thirty canvases, the series constituted the artist’s last significant body of work. It demonstrates his vigorous brushwork, bright palette, and what the critics called his truly American interpretation of the French aesthetic of Impressionism.
“French Impressionists had recorded contemporary life, usually under bright, sunny spring skies. Hassam was also interested in capturing weather conditions: Early Morning on the Avenue is distinct in the series for its overall whiteness, the brilliancy of the hue transforming the cloudless blue sky to a pearly white and bleaching the buildings and sidewalks to opalescent tones. The flag paintings, however, were not just about weather and light. They were begun in response to the flag displays and parades that were organized in New York City as part of the war effort. Hassam was a patriot and an ardent Anglophile, and he used these paintings to demonstrate his support for the Allies. Color and light therefore took on a metaphorical significance, the pervasiveness of white in Early Morning on the Avenue suggesting purity and the righteousness of the Allied cause.”
May has three days designated for flying the U.S. flag out of the specific days mentioned in the U.S. Flag Code, three days designated in other federal laws, and three statehood days, when residents of those states should fly their flags.
Interestingly, the three designated days all float, from year to year:
- Mother’s Day, second Sunday in May (May 13, in 2018)
- Armed Forces Day, third Saturday in May (May 19)
- Memorial Day, the last Monday in May (May 28)
Residents of these states celebrate statehood; South Carolina and Wisconsin share May 23:
- Minnesota, May 11 (1858, the 32nd state)
- South Carolina, May 23 (1788, the 8th state)
- Wisconsin, May 23 (1848, the 30th state)
- Rhode Island, May 29 (1790, the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the Constitution)
In 2016 President Obama issued a proclamation calling on citizens to fly the flag on May 1, Law Day. It’s also Loyalty Day, which got a proclamation from President Obama calling for flag flying in 2016, and from President Trump in 2017.
May 8 marks the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, the day the Axis Powers in Europe surrendered at the end of World War II. Some years that day is marked by a proclamation calling for flag flying. (You may fly your flag then even if Congress and the President do nothing.)
In recent years President Obama proclaimed May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day, with flags to fly at half-staff. We might expect another such declaration in 2018, but we’ll see next week.
May 22 is National Maritime Day, under a Joint Resolution from Congress from 1933. President Trump may proclaim that day as a day to fly the flag, too.
Twelve events on fourteen days to fly the U.S. flag. May could be quite busy for flag fliers.
- Law Day, May 1, AND
- Loyalty Day, May 1
- Victory in Europe Day, May 8
- Minnesota Statehood, May 11
- Mothers Day, May 13
- Peace Officers Memorial Day, May 15 (half-staff flags; the law for Police Week calls for flags to be half-staff the entire week in which May 15 occurs, May 14-20 in 2017)
- Armed Forces Day, May 19
- National Maritime Day, May 22
- South Carolina Statehood, May 23, AND
- Wisconsin Statehood, May 23
- Memorial Day, May 28
- Rhode Island Statehood, May 29
US flag flying at the U.S. Supreme Court’s west portico, suitable for Law Day, May 1. (But this photo was taken in June, 2012; Alex Brandon/AP)
Yes, this is an encore post. Defeating ignorance takes patience and perseverance.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
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