William Merritt Chase

The Gray Kimono

1901

The Goldfish Bowl by Richard Miller (1875-1943) Oil on canvas 37 ½ x 29 ¾ inches unframed (95.25 x 75.565 cm) 46 ⅝ x 36 ¼ inches framed (118.428 x 97.155...

Landscape by George Luks (1867-1933) Oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches unframed (27.94 x 35.56 cm) Signed lower left Description: George Luks was an American artist originally born in Pe...

Portrait of Alice Gerson, c. 1883 Oil on panel, 9 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches (23.2 x 15.9 cm) Framed dimensions: 18 5/8 x 15 3/4 inches Signed lower left: Chase. Provenance Jamie M. Martin;...

Portrait of a Man Facing Left Monotype printed in brown ink, c. 1880-1914 Signed in ink lower left: Chase (see photo) Provenance: Helen Chase Storm (the artist's daughter) Jackson Chase Storm (her son) Chapellier Galleries (as agent) James Bergquist, Boston References And Exhibitions: Exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA. (See MFA paperwork in photos) Reference: Ronald G. Pisano, Completed by D. Frederick Baker and Carolyn K. Lane, William Merritt Chase: Still Lifes, Interiors, Figures, Copies of Old Masters, and Drawings, Catalogue Raisonne, Vol. IV (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), Vol. 1, M. 8. (See photos of entry) William Merritt Chase (1840-2016) Born in Nineveh, Indiana Died New York, New York In 1883 Chase was involved in the organization of an exhibition to help raise funds for a pedestal for the Statute of Liberty. The exhibition featured loans of three works by Manet and urban scenes by the Italian Impressionist Giuseppe de Nittis. Both artists influenced Chase's Impressionistic style that gave rise to a series of New York park scenes. It is also thought that he was influenced by John Singer Sargent's In the Luxembourg Gardens (1879) which was exhibited in New York at this time. Indeed, Chase had met Sargent in Europe in 1881, the two men becoming lifelong friends with Sargent painting Chase's portrait in 1902. On another European trip in 1885, Chase met James McNeill Whistler in London. While Whistler had a reputation for being difficult, the two artists got along famously and agreed to paint one another's portrait. Eventually, however, Whistler's moods began to grate with Chase who wrote home stating "I really begin to feel that I never will get away from here". For his part, Whistler criticized Chase's finished portrait and, according to Hirshler, "complained about Chase for the rest of his life". While no record exists of Whistler's portrait of Chase; Chase's portrait of Whistler remains a well-known piece in his oeuvre. In 1887 Chase married Alice Gerson, the daughter of the manager of a lithography company. Though some fifteen years his junior (Chase was 37), he had known Alice for some time through her family's devotion to the arts. The pair, who would enjoy a happy marriage with Alice in full support of her husband's career, settled initially in Brooklyn...