Praised for his jewel-like landscapes, urban park scenes, and sympathetic images of women, William Merritt Chase was a leading American Impressionist painter and an influential teacher in the late nineteenth century. Chase left his modest Indiana boyhood home to study at the Munich Academy, where he fell in love with the old masters and set out to celebrate the people and places of his own time. His New York studio became a stage set for his imagination: there, Chase brought objects from around the world together in harmonious arrangements of color and form, dazzling his subjects and patrons with both his paintings and his artistic persona.

This beautifully illustrated volume provides a compact introduction to Chase’s paintings and pastels, sampling several of his favorite motifs—the theatrical environment of his antiques-filled studio, the modern women he celebrated, the costumes and decorative arts of Japan, children at play in city and countryside, and thoughtful moments of leisure and contemplation.

About the Author

Erica E. Hirshler is Croll Senior Curator of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.