William Merritt Chase

William Merritt Chase 1849-1916, American painter, b. Williamsburg, Ind., studied in Indianapolis and in Munich under Piloty. In 1878 he began his long career as an influential teacher at the Art Students League of New York and later established his own summer school of landscape painting in the Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. Proficient in many media, Chase is best known for his spirited portraits and still lifes in oil. His Carmencita, Lady in Black, and portrait of Whistler (all: Metropolitan Mus.) and My Daughter Alice (Cleveland Mus.) are characteristic. He was president of the Society of American Artists for 10 years and a member of the National Academy of Design.

Bibliography: See K. M. Roof, Life and Art of William M. Chase (1917).

Chase, William Merritt (1849–1916). American painter. He was a versatile and prolific artist, but is remembered chiefly as the most important art teacher of his generation in the USA. His principal posts were in New York—at the Art Students League, 1878–94, and at his own Chase School, 1896–1908—but he also taught in Chicago, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. From 1891 to 1902 he ran the Shinnecock Summer School on Long Island, the first important school of open-air painting in America, and he also pioneered study trips abroad (he visited Europe regularly throughout his career). A flamboyant and popular man, he was active in virtually every art organization in New York and he did a great deal to promote the art of his colleagues and countrymen. Apart from teaching, he made his living mainly through portraiture, but he was often in financial difficulties. His other subjects included still lifes, interiors, and landscapes. He took great joy in the process of painting, and the vigorous brushwork and fresh colour that characterizes much of the best American painting of the early 20th century owes much to his example. His students included Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Charles Sheeler. See also Ten, the.