William Merritt Chase was born on November 1, 1849, in Williamsburg, now Nineveh, Indiana. He was interested in art as a child and studied with self-taught artists Barton S. Hays and Jacob Cox. Later he entered the National Academy of Design with Lemuel Wilmarth, a pupil of renowned French artist Jean-Léon Gérô. He was awarded several awards at an exhibition in Saint Louis, and he had his first painting exhibited at the National Academy in 1871.
1. AT THE SEASIDE
William Merritt Chase painted a lot of seaside scenes. He did not actually go to the seaside much. In 1885, for example, he painted more than eighty pictures of Venice. In none of them does he give any indication of knowing what the Grand Canal looks like from the water, or from any other viewpoint. Chase's technique is to take a picture postcard and make some adjustments. He doesn't add anything; he takes away. The buildings on the Grand Canal don't look like that; they look like a stage set that has been designed to look realistic from a distance. So Chase removes the real buildings and replaces them with a painted back wall that looks real from a distance. The result is instantly recognizable as Venice. By this At the seaside paintings is painted in oil on canvas, the work depicts a coastal scene set on Long Island, New York.
2. IDLE HOURS
William Merritt Chase often painted portraits, which were very popular with his clients. But he also liked to paint landscapes outdoors, as well as still lifes and other subjects. One of his best known paintings is called Idle Hours. It depicts a woman reading a book outdoors in a beautiful garden.
3. PORTRAIT OF DORA WHEELER
William Merritt Chase is one of the most important American artists you have never heard of. He is also a reminder that being great at one thing doesn't mean you are bad at others. The thing Chase was best at was painting portraits. But he made a lot of other kinds of paintings, and some of them are pretty good too. Portrait of Dora Wheeler is another of his great works.
4. MRS. CHASE IN PROSPECT PARK
One day in the summer of 1891, William Merritt Chase decided to paint his wife. She sat on a bench in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y.; he stood nearby. The sun was bright; the scene was ordinary. Merritt Chase (1849 - 1916) was already famous for his portraits of beautiful women. His paintings had just been shown at the Paris Exposition Universelle, where he had won a medal. Now he was painting his wife, always expressed her feelings through her face. This Mrs. Chase in Prospect Park paintings is so alive with feeling that one almost forgets how well it is painted. It has everything: color, light, composition, action and emotion. The woman's face captures love, but also vulnerability and apprehension about what's coming next.
5. THE OLD BOOK
The Old Book painting has been described as "one of the most charming works of the American impressionism movement". The portrait was positively received by critics upon its creation, with much praise directed at the artist's use of color and tone.
6. STILL LIFE
Chase continued to paint still lifes throughout his career as he had done since he was an art student. Still Life is a portrait painted by William Merritt Chase since 1903. This is paintings on canvas with oil paints. that looks very lively and realistic It is currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston United States.
7. A FRIENDLY CALL
A Friendly Call is an oil painting produced in 1895 by the American painter William Merritt Chase. In his canvas, Chase portrays his wife, Alice, chatting with a smartly dressed visitor in the artist's studio at his summer home in Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. The use of color and light in Chase's work reminds some viewers of the French Impressionists, a style that led to him being recognized as an American Impressionist.
8. THE YOUNG ORPHAN
The Young Orphan (or At Her Ease) is an oil on canvas by American artist William Merritt Chase, painted in 1884. When Chase submitted The Young Orphan at Les Vingt show in Belgium, he changed the title from The Young Orphan to "At Her Ease" that was more politically correct. The painting has a composition in its design and use of only two predominant colors recalls the traditional style.
9. OPEN AIR BREAKFAST
The
Open Air Breakfast is an oil painting on canvas, done about 1888. Although at first glance this scene may seem to capture a moment of casual relaxation, but on closer inspection, however, the image looks more like a carefully arranged still life painting. William Merritt Chase has posed his sister in a prominent 17th century Dutch-style black hat. His wife is seated at the breakfast table, wearing a Chinese cap, with the couple's young daughter next to her. Chase's sister-in-law rests in a hammock, while one of Chase's beloved Russian wolfdogs rests on the ground by the fence.
10. FIRST TOUCH OF AUTUMN
First Touch of Autumn lets his viewers experience the vast emptiness of rolling coastal dunes under an endless blue sky that fills half the canvas. He often led his students in outdoor painting demonstrations, and he believed that, as a landscape painter, "you have to be under the sky." Chase created America's first summer art school on Long Island. There he painted some of his most impressionistic landscapes.
