William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase | 1849–1916 | At the Seaside c.1892 | Oil on canvas | 50.8 x 86.4cm | Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967) 1967 (67.187.123) | Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Photography courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
At the Seaside c.1892
William Merritt Chase (1849–1916) studied from 1872 to 1878 at the Royal Academy in Munich, a popular alternative to the Parisian academies for American artists studying in Europe. He returned to New York in 1878 to take up a position at the Art Students League, but continued to exhibit in the Paris Salon exhibitions and the 'Expositions Universelles' of 1889 and 1900. In Munich, the work of Wilhelm Leibl was a major influence on the development of Chase’s style. Leibl had looked to the Dutch painters, such as Frans Hals, Rubens and Rembrandt in the development of his own vigorous brushwork and its emphasis on colour and tone. Chase’s paintings adopted a similar lose vitality and have been referred to as some of the first ‘impressionist’ paintings done in the United States. He was also instrumental in the encouragement of collectors acquiring works by French Impressionists. Chase’s At the Seaside c.1882 is characteristic of his impressionist handling of outdoor scenes, such as the beaches of Long Island where he taught a summer school in outdoor painting.
