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William Merritt Chase
(Nov.1, 1849 Indiana - 1916 New York) American oil painting artist biography.
William Merritt Chase was twelve when the family moved to Indianapolis. His father hoped that he would follow him into the women's shoe business, but Chase, who said "the desire to draw was born in me," resisted his father's commercial ambitions for his own artistic ones. In 1867 he began his training, followed two years later with study at the National Academy of Design in New York and also under J. 0. Eaton. In 1871 Chase moved to Saint Louis, where he painted still life's professionally. He attracted the attention of local art patrons, who in the fall of 1872, offered to send him abroad. He studied for five years at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he received most of his training, Chase was one of the many Americans studying there.
He settled in New York in 1878 and taught at the Art Students League of New York and then at his own Chase School of Art founded in 1896 and the New York School of Art which he also founded and was the most celebrated teacher of his time.
William Merritt Chase won many honors at home and abroad, became a member of the National Academy of Design, New York. As a leader of the insurgent younger painters who challenged the authority of the National Academy of Design, he was a founding member of the Society of American Artists and in 1880, was elected its president for 10 years. His large, sumptuously decorated studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building, which he took soon after his return to New York, was the most famous artist's studio in America and a virtual manifesto of his and his generation's artistic practices and beliefs. In 1886 he married Alice Gerson, who was frequently his model, as were their many children. Chase mastered the ability to create a casual image of life suspended in time which, while looking effortless and unpremeditated, was actually carefully composed to reflect the movement of real people in real life situations.
The vigorous handling and fresh color characteristic of much of the best American painting of the early 20th century owes a good deal to his painting style. His pupils whom he encouraged to paint in the open air included Georgia O'Keefe and Edward Hopper. Chase was a worker in all mediums, oils, watercolor, pastel and etching, painting with distinction, he is perhaps best known by his oil portraits, his sitters being some of the most famous people of his time. A highly prolific artist, his output of more than 2000 oil paintings included still life, nudes, portraits, interiors and landscapes and his work is represented in many museums.
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Afternoon in the Park
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Prospect Park
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Azaleas
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The Park
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Back of a Nude
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