The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 30

Figure 19 . William Merritt Chase ( American , 1849 – 1916 ), A Subtle Device , 1881 , oil on canvas , 11 7/8 x 18 15 / 16 in ., Heckscher Museum of Art , gift of the Baker / Pisano Collection , 2001.9.53
Fine Arts , Boston ) ( figs . 17 and 18 ). Later that day , the Tilers were confronted by a real demon : the dreaded mosquito . “ It was a dispensation like one of the plagues of Egypt ,” complained one of the artists . 94 Their troubles were relieved the next day when Baird , who had been wired in New York to bring mosquito netting , joined the group . By the fourth day , the inventive Chase used the netting to construct a makeshift outdoor studio in which he could paint unmolested by the pests ( fig . 19 ). Chase ’ s ingenious solution is depicted in his painting A Subtle Device , in effect , a self-portrait as a plein-air painter . In the background of Chase ’ s composition are seen The Two Sisters and another Tiler lugging his heavy painting equipment in search of a suitable subject . At the end of the day the others returned with numerous sketches , but , unlike Chase ’ s painting they were “ fragmentary and incomplete .” 95 That evening , frustrated by the forces of nature and the lack of artistic inspiration , Smith declared that he had had enough . The next morning Laffan agreed , claiming , “ Nature is opposed to this business .” 96 Quartley suggested the group give up their unsatisfactory quarters and move on to Port Jefferson , “ a ‘ tiley ’ town by the sea , not far away — a place of peace and cheapness .” 97
And , although the article continues as if this were an extension of the same trip , there is enough contradictory evidence to suggest that the story then leaps to yet another jaunt by the Tile Club to Long Island that happened more than a year later , in the fall of 1881 .
Apparently , the group had not gathered enough illustrations or stories based on their aborted trip in the summer of 1880 to justify an article , which was tabled until additional material could be assembled . When plans were made for another summer trip to Long Island the following year ( 1881 ), there were some complications . Twachtman , who had married that spring , planned to travel to Europe with his new bride . Chase , who had been putting off travel abroad , was bound and determined to see the first work he had had accepted to the Paris Salon . Others may have had conflicts as well . To add to this , the group knew that Abbey , who had hoped to join them on Long Island , would not return to the United States until that fall . He also wanted his friend , the English artist Alfred Parsons , who was accompanying him , to take part in the excursion . Abbey had written enthusiastically to Parsons the previous year about his Tile Club experience on Long Island in 1878 : “ I never seemed to work so easily
24 THE TILE CLUB : Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting