William Merritt Chase was born on November 1, 1849, in Nineveh, Indiana, but in 1861 Chase's father moved the family to Indianapolis, where William worked as a salesman in his father's business. In 1869 Chase moved to New York to study art and he enrolled in the National Academy of Design. Later, in 1870 he was forced to leave New York, due to his family's financial troubles, and moved with his family to Saint Louis, Missouri. While working to help support his family he exhibited his paintings and gained the attention of the local wealthy art patrons, who urged him to travel to Europe to further his artistic studies, which he did with their financial assistance. While in Europe Chase studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, in Munich, a school of high regard where many American students came to study painting. In 1878 he returned to the United States, opening a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building, in New York. In addition to being a great painter, Chase was also quite a successful teacher, opening the Shinnecock Hills Summer School on eastern Long Island, in New York. Throughout his teaching career he would instruct many students who would later become well known artists, such as Charles Demuth, George Pearce Ennis, Marsden Hartley, George Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Edward Hopper.
Chase liked to paint Plein Air, out in the landscape, and often taught his classes outdoors. His landscapes of the Shinnecock area are believed by art historians to be some of the finest examples of American Impressionism. See below a fine example of his work "A Sunny Day at Shinnecock Bay," painted in 1892.
Also, see below another example of his American Impressionist landscapes, "A Long Island Lake," painted in 1890.
Click this link so see some examples of my American Impressionist Paintings at my webpage of my Portfolio.
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