HE WORRIED WOULD BE KNOWN ONLY AS A PAINTER OF FISH – William Merrit Chase, the gifted witness painter of his era

WILLIAM MERRIT CHASE 1/3 – He showed an early interest in art, and was known as an exponent of Impressionism. He was a gifted witness to his era, gathering impressions of late nineteenth-century city life. Its father moved the family to Indianapolis, and employed his son in the family business. William Merritt Chase was born on a November day, and its teachers urged him to further his artistic training, for that in 1869 he arrived in New York, but he exhibited his first painting at the National Academy only in 1871.

WILLIAM MERRIT CHASE 2/3 – He was eclectic, borrowing with pride and pleasure from many international styles, past and present. In Europe (Munich), he settled at the Academy of Fine Arts, where employed his talent most often in figurative works. He traveled to Venice in 1877, before returning to the United States in 1878, where he opened a studio in New York. In 1881 he travelled back to Europe, to team up with his artist friend, going on a working tour in Venice and Capri, then back to Germany. He married Alice Gerson in 1887, rearing eight children.

WILLIAM MERRIT CHASE 3/3 – He was most fluent in oil painting and pastel, creating also watercolor paintings and etchings. In the painting of a portrait, he always endeavors to seize character with elusive tints of flesh. As you can observe, a noble sense of color is perceptible in all his works. He began painting landscapes in the late 1880s, with usually featured prominently people. Park images – by artists whom Chase admired – may also have influenced his choice of this subject. He died in New York in 1916, and worried that he would be known to future generations only as a painter of fish.                  You can see more on Meeting Benches, looking for:

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