William Merritt Chase

American, 1849 - 1916

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American painter (1849–1916)

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William A. Clark

William Merritt Chase · c. 1915 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.12

William Merritt Chase, Self-Portrait, 1915, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.136.15

Self-Portrait

William Merritt Chase · 1915 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.15

William Merritt Chase, Self-Portrait, 1909, pen and black ink on two sheets of card stock, Gift of William and Abigail Gerdts, 2018.44.28

Self-Portrait

William Merritt Chase · 1909 · pen and black ink on two sheets of card stock ·  Accession ID  2018.44.28

A white-skinned fish, sliced open along its belly, lies across a porcelain plate next to a brass-colored vessel in this nearly square still-life painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout. The objects are lit from our left, and the earth-brown background is in deep shadow. At the center of the composition, the fish’s head and tail flop off the white plate, which is painted with orange and blue flowers. Four smaller, silvery fish lie in two pairs on the brown, possibly wood tabletop. One pair is near the lower right corner of the canvas, and the other is to the left of the white fish’s gaping mouth. Touches of red on the tabletop are reflected in the brass pot, which stands on short legs and has two shallow handles at the upper rim. A heavily painted area on the pot could be an ornament, like a lion’s head in relief, but details are difficult to make out. The artist signed the work in wide, sprawling letters in the lower left corner, “WM M. Chase.”
William Merritt Chase, An English Cod, 1904, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2014.136.5

An English Cod

William Merritt Chase · 1904 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.5

William Merritt Chase, Nude, c. 1901, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.1

Nude

William Merritt Chase · c. 1901 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1995.47.1

Two pale-skinned women sit facing each other on a long sofa centered on the wall across from us in a room warmly lit from the right in this horizontal painting. The scene is loosely painted so some details are indistinct. The woman on our left wears a white, full-length dress belted at the waist and trimmed with a ruffled hem. The puffy sleeves narrow below the elbow and are tucked into long, fawn-brown gloves. She wears a brimmed hat topped with dabs of white and lapis-blue paint, presumably flowers, with a sheer veil covering her face and chin. Glints of gold at her wrists might be bracelets. Her lower body faces us but her head and torso turn to her left, our right, to face her companion. She leans forward, with her left hand slightly extended, and she rests her fingertips on the cushion between them. Her other hand, closest to us, holds the curving handle of a closed, shell-pink parasol trimmed with white. To our right, the second woman sits with her knees angled to our left as she turns her head in profile, looking at her companion. She wears a floor-length, butter-yellow dress with white, vertical stripes. The dress has a high black collar, and a black ribbon wraps around her waist and falls down the front of the dress. Her sleeves billow at the shoulder and narrow below the elbow. Her dark brown hair is gathered at the top of her head. She holds a flat object in the same butter yellow in her lap that may be a matching hat. The sofa spans almost the entire width of the center of the painting. Its seat is draped in spruce-green fabric, and emerald-green, mauve, rose-pink, black, and gold throw pillows are scattered along its length. The lower half of the wall behind the women is tawny brown while the upper half is divided into four sections. A coral-red and off-white wall hanging fills the wall to our left of the woman in white. A framed artwork and mustard-yellow fabric with daubs of white, ash gray, and black hang on it. Moving right, a column of three framed artworks hang on the wall between the women. Next is a large mirror with a gold frame that hangs behind the woman in yellow. At the far right is another column of three framed artworks. The room behind us is reflected in the large mirror, showing an amber-colored wall with large windows and more framed artworks. Steps leading up to another sunlit room are also visible. A wicker chair with a pink and white pillow sits in the lower right, facing the women at an angle. The floor in front of them fills the lower third of the composition and is covered with a vanilla-yellow carpet streaked with areas of smoke gray and brick red. Two small throw pillows with tassels lie at the feet of the woman in white. The tip of the parasol points to a small sage-green pillow with tomato-red tassels lying on the floor between the women. To our left of the woman in white is a cream-white pillow with marigold-orange tassels. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left, “Wm. M. Chase. Copyright 1895.”
William Merritt Chase, A Friendly Call, 1895, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1943.1.2

A Friendly Call

William Merritt Chase · 1895 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.1.2

William Merritt Chase, Gathering Autumn Flowers, 1894/1895, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2012.89.1

Gathering Autumn Flowers

William Merritt Chase · 1894/1895 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2012.89.1

William Merritt Chase, Gathering Flowers, Shinnecock, Long Island, c. 1897, pastel on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.6

Gathering Flowers, Shinnecock, Long Island

William Merritt Chase · c. 1897 · pastel on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.6

Shown from the hips up, a mostly nude woman with pale skin and dark hair pulled up into a loose bun sits with her back to us in this vertical pastel. Touches of sunshine yellow, scarlet red, and black suggest a pattern on the spring green cloth loosely encircling her hips along the bottom edge of the paper. She seems to hold her hands in front of her body so her elbows are bent and she looks down, perhaps at something in her lap. Her black hair is flecked with white to suggest glinting light. The background is filled with a golden yellow field interspersed with hazy turquoise, tomato red, sky blue, and black shapes. It is loosely rendered with pastel to create a blurry effect. Eventually it becomes evident that it is a Japanese screen with clusters of people, landscape, and perhaps a courtyard. The artist signed the work with red letters near the woman’s right hip: “Wm M Chase.”
William Merritt Chase, Study of Flesh Color and Gold, 1888, pastel on paper coated with mauve-gray grit (on strainer), Gift of Raymond J. and Margaret Horowitz, 2007.94.2

Study of Flesh Color and Gold

William Merritt Chase · 1888 · pastel on paper coated with mauve-gray grit (on strainer) ·  Accession ID  2007.94.2

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The Model

William Merritt Chase · c. 1888 · pastel on wove paper mounted to stretched canvas ·  Accession ID  2015.19.246

Bibliography

1917

  • Roof, Katherine Metcalf. The Life and Art of William Merritt Chase. New York, 1917.

1976

  • Cikovsky, Jr., Nicolai. "William Merritt Chase's Tenth Street Studio." Archives of American Art Journal 16 (1976): 2-14.

1979

  • Pisano, Ronald G. William Merritt Chase. New York, 1979.

1983

  • Pisano, Ronald G. A Leading Spirit in American Art: William Merritt Chase, 1849-1916. Seattle, 1983.

1987

  • Atkinson, D. Scott, and Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr. William Merritt Chase: Summers at Shinnecock 1891-1902. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1987.

1991

  • Bryant, Jr., Keith L. William Merritt Chase: A Genteel Bohemian. Columbia, Missouri, 1991.

1995

  • Gallati, Barbara Dyer. William Merritt Chase. New York, 1995.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 54-55.

2007

  • Orcutt, Kimberly. Painterly Controversy: William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri. Exh. cat. Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, 2007.