William Merritt Chase, master of a full spectrum of techniques and painting styles, was also one of the most influential teachers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His paintings reflect his enthusiasms. A landscape might draw on the boldest impression; a still life, on the vigorous brushwork of the Munich school; a portrait, on lush classism or on interior, subdued tonalism.
Chase, born in 1849 in Ninevah, Indiana, first studied art in Indianapolis. In 1870, he studied for a year at the National Academy of Design in New York City. From 1872 to 1876, Chase attended the Royal Academy in Munich. In 1877, he visited Venice for nine months with other Munich students, Frank Duveneck and John H. Twachtman. Chase returned in 1878 to New York City, where his work had gained notice at the previous year's National Academy show.
His students, many of whom became famous, included Kenneth Hayes Miller, Marsden Hartley, Rockwell Kent, Charles Sheeler and Georgia O'Keefe.
Chase died in 1916, in New York City.
Member:
National Academy of Design
National Institute of Arts and Letters
Society of American Artists
Ten American Painters
Public Collections:
Art Institute of Chicago
Brooklyn Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Detroit Institute of Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
St. Louis Museum

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton

William Merritt Chase, born in 1849, was on of the most influential art teachers of the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1870 he studied for a year at the National Academy of Design, NYC, and then went to Europe. He studied at the Royal Academy of Munich where dramatic highlighting and dark backgrounds of the 17th century were emphasized. He gained recognition for his full spectrum of styles and techniques from Impressionistic colors to vigorous brushwork to Classicism. He managed to maintain harmony throughout the composition with form and light. Chase began his teaching career at the Art Students League where he opened his studio to students and encouraged individualism. He also taught for 10 years at the Chase School, later renamed the New York School of Art, and at his summer home in Shinnecock, Long Island. He had many famous students including Georgia O'Keefe and Rockwell Kent. Chase was a member of the Ten American Painters. His retrospective was held in 1995 at the Spanierman Gallery, NYC. Chase died in 1916.

Biography courtesy of The Caldwell Gallery, www.antiquesandfineart.com/caldwell

One of America's Impressionist masters, William Merritt Chase achieved extraordinary success as an artist and art instructor at the turn of the twentieth century. Originally known for his portraits and still-lifes, Chase began to concentrate on landscapes in the 1880's and pioneered the plein-air movement in the United States. His atmospheric images of the American countryside earned him the Proctor Prize at the National Academy of Design as well as gold medals from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Paris Exposition of 1900, the Buffalo Pan-Am Exposition of 1901, and the Charleston Exposition of 1902. Chase was admitted into the country's most exclusive group of impressionist painters, The Ten, in 1902 and helped to found two seminal art organizations: the Society of American Artists and the Society of Painters in Pastel. He was also renowned as a brilliant art teacher who trained the next generation of American artists, including Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Today, his work is featured in The White House, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Madrid.

Biography courtesy of Questroyal Fine Art LLC, www.antiquesandfineart.com/questroyal