William Chase

An Impressionist artist and teacher, a member of the National Academy of Design, a chairman of the Society of American Artists.

Born into the family of a successful merchant. From childhood, he was interested in painting, attending art classes of portrait painter Barton Hayes. His father planned to involve his son in the family business, but the young man was seriously interested in painting and decided to devote his life to it.

William Merritt Chase developed his original style, becoming the ancestor of a new style in American painting. He was a member of the Impressionist group “Ten”, which was an alternative to the officially recognized art and promoted progressive trends in painting.

He was known as a talented mentor, worked as a teacher of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, founded his own art school.

William Chase was a successful artist. His creations were recognized by critics and popular among the public; numerous students developed and continued the artistic traditions of the master, creating contemporary, avant-garde, modernist art.

Key ideas:

– The creative heritage of the artist shows that he was guided by very diverse methods in his paintings. In his technique, the painter combined the classical European artistic tradition and the revolutionary discoveries of French Impressionists.

– His paintings, landscapes, still lifes, portraits, despite the mixture of different styles, are realistic and harmonious, like nature itself. They convey an atmosphere of calmness and happiness, enticing by its simplicity, and, at the same time, the depth of feelings and tangibility.

– Having received an art education in Europe, William Chase sought to create a unique, characteristic only for America art. In his canvases, he managed to express the national flavor and spiritual traditions of his time, forever inscribing his name in the history of fine art.