William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
American , 1849 – 1916
William Merritt Chase was born in Indiana , and studied under Indianapolis artist Barton S . Hays in the 1860s . Following a threemonth stint in the Navy , Chase moved to New York in 1869 and enrolled in classes at the National Academy of Design upon the advice of Hays and fellow artist Jacob Cox . Hearing of his father ’ s failing shoe business , Chase moved to St . Louis , where his family then resided . Knowing that his education had been cut short , and clearly impressed by his talents , a group of seven local businessmen offered Chase the funds to study in Europe , provided that he send each contributor a painting as well as help them acquire European artwork for their growing collections . In 1872 , he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich , working under Karl von Piloty and Alexander von Wagner . Chase traveled to Venice with Frank Duveneck and John Henry Twachtman before returning to the United States in 1878 where he taught at the Art Students League in New York City for over twenty years . He also taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts , Brooklyn Art Association , Art Institute of Chicago , Chase School of Art ( now the Parsons School of Design ), and the Shinnecock Summer School on Long Island — one of the country ’ s most important plein air schools .
Chase thrived as a teacher and was admired by his students , who in later years would include George Bellows , Annie Traquair Lang , Georgia O ’ Keeffe , Rockwell Kent , and Edward Hopper , among countless others . Chase is also remembered for his elaborate , and costly , atelier in the well-known Tenth Street Studio Building , which he lavishly decorated . A number of models and patrons visited Chase ’ s studio , but none were more important than the Gerson sisters . Chase was particularly fond of Alice Gerson , whom he married in 1887 . The subject of many of Chase ’ s paintings , her portraits best summarize his range of style — capturing the darker tones of the Munich school to the lighter palette of the French Impressionists .
Gertrude Käsebier ( American , 1852 – 1934 ), William Merritt Chase , ca . 1880 , platinum print , 7 x 4 11 / 16 in ., Chazen Museum of Art , gift of D . Frederick Baker from the Baker / Pisano Collection , 2012.1.15
REFERENCES : Bryant , Keith L . William Merritt Chase : A Genteel Bohemian .
Columbia : University of Missouri Press , 1991 .
Dearinger , David Bernard , ed . Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design . Volume 1 , 1826- 1925 . New York : Hudson Hills Press , 2004 .
Gallati , Barbara Dayer . William Merritt Chase . New York : Harry N . Abrams in association with the National Museum of American Art , Smithsonian Institution , 1995 .
Mather Jr ., Frank Jewett . Estimates in Art . Series II . Sixteen Essays on American Painters of the Nineteenth Century . Freeport , NY : Books for Libraries Press , 1970 .
Montgomery , Walter , ed . American Art and American Art Collections : Essays on Artistic Subjects by the Best Art Writers , Fully Illustrated with Etchings , Photoetchings , Photogravures ,
60 THE TILE CLUB : Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting