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Lot Essay
William Merritt Chase has often been described as a painter’s painter, typified in his artistic style by a profound attentiveness to his medium and an interest in the formal qualities of painting. Perhaps more so than any other genre, Chase’s portraiture exemplifies his status as such an artist, and the present painting, an intimate and thoughtful portrait of his sister, is no exception. Painted in 1886, at a period in which Chase was establishing his artistic practice in New York City, Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) represents a key moment in the artist’s career. The work is a demonstration not only of Chase’s ties to and awareness of European approaches to painting, but also his concerted effort to establish a quintessentially American style.
Throughout his career, Chase often painted portraits of his family, and many of these works are among his best for the feeling of intimacy and understanding of subject that they elicit. As Laura B. Fiser expressed of the artist, “Chase was moving beyond creating mere realistic likenesses,” employing his considerable skill, “to capture his subjects’ vitality, character, and spirit.” (William Merritt Chase: Family Portraits, exhibition catalogue, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 2011, p. 12) The fact that the present work was not necessarily painted with the public in mind further emphasizes its personal nature. Here, Hattie stands in three-quarter view, her carefully rendered face turned forward with a confident and inquisitive gaze. She wears a gauzy, tiered white dress, the texture of which is enhanced by Chase’s expressive vertical brushstrokes. One gets the sense that portraits like this were a way for Chase to fully realize his personal style. The successful composition and technique exhibited in Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) is again utilized in works intended for a larger audience, such as Lady in White Gown (Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona) and Portrait of Mrs. C. (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), the latter of which was considered by Chase to be his greatest work.
While certainly reflective of his own manner of painting, Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) is not without its allusions to other artists and styles influential to Chase. Of his contemporaries, James McNeill Whistler undoubtedly had a significant impact on Chase’s work, visible in the present painting’s parallels to Whistler’s Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander (Tate Gallery, London). Hattie’s pose and the use of a limited palette directly mirror Whistler’s depiction of his subject. Both artists were in turn guided by the work of several Old Master painters, and the indebtedness to them, in particular Diego Velázquez, is wholly evident in their respective portraits. The unmodulated, shallow background of Portrait of My Sister (Hattie), as well as the use of light and shadow, further demonstrate Chase’s six years of artistic training in Munich, but the impressionistic quality of the work, seen in Chase’s rendering of Hattie’s hands and dress, reflect an important stylistic shift for the artist, one that would continue to define his later career.
Chase’s status as a painter tied to the artistic happenings of Europe was significant in his ability to establish himself as an artist of prominence in America. One critic in 1890 wrote of Chase’s skill at “blending indistinguishably the influences of old and new schools of painting,” declaring his style in this regard to be distinctly American. (as quoted in D. Scott Atkinson, N. Cikovsky, Jr., William Merritt Chase: Summers at Shinnecock 1891-1902, Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 21) Indeed, Chase’s decision to return to the United States following his time abroad was fully intended as a move toward creating an American school of painting, one that looked to Europe for direction, but that would eventually become its own unique form of expression. As Chase himself wrote, “I was young, American art was young; I had faith in it.” (as quoted in R. Pisano, William Merritt Chase, exhibition catalogue, Southampton, New York, 1976, p. 35) Chase’s Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) exemplifies the successful amalgamation of all that was admired and acclaimed in late nineteenth century portraiture, a fusion executed with painterly proficiency, as only an American artist could.
Throughout his career, Chase often painted portraits of his family, and many of these works are among his best for the feeling of intimacy and understanding of subject that they elicit. As Laura B. Fiser expressed of the artist, “Chase was moving beyond creating mere realistic likenesses,” employing his considerable skill, “to capture his subjects’ vitality, character, and spirit.” (William Merritt Chase: Family Portraits, exhibition catalogue, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 2011, p. 12) The fact that the present work was not necessarily painted with the public in mind further emphasizes its personal nature. Here, Hattie stands in three-quarter view, her carefully rendered face turned forward with a confident and inquisitive gaze. She wears a gauzy, tiered white dress, the texture of which is enhanced by Chase’s expressive vertical brushstrokes. One gets the sense that portraits like this were a way for Chase to fully realize his personal style. The successful composition and technique exhibited in Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) is again utilized in works intended for a larger audience, such as Lady in White Gown (Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona) and Portrait of Mrs. C. (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), the latter of which was considered by Chase to be his greatest work.
While certainly reflective of his own manner of painting, Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) is not without its allusions to other artists and styles influential to Chase. Of his contemporaries, James McNeill Whistler undoubtedly had a significant impact on Chase’s work, visible in the present painting’s parallels to Whistler’s Harmony in Grey and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander (Tate Gallery, London). Hattie’s pose and the use of a limited palette directly mirror Whistler’s depiction of his subject. Both artists were in turn guided by the work of several Old Master painters, and the indebtedness to them, in particular Diego Velázquez, is wholly evident in their respective portraits. The unmodulated, shallow background of Portrait of My Sister (Hattie), as well as the use of light and shadow, further demonstrate Chase’s six years of artistic training in Munich, but the impressionistic quality of the work, seen in Chase’s rendering of Hattie’s hands and dress, reflect an important stylistic shift for the artist, one that would continue to define his later career.
Chase’s status as a painter tied to the artistic happenings of Europe was significant in his ability to establish himself as an artist of prominence in America. One critic in 1890 wrote of Chase’s skill at “blending indistinguishably the influences of old and new schools of painting,” declaring his style in this regard to be distinctly American. (as quoted in D. Scott Atkinson, N. Cikovsky, Jr., William Merritt Chase: Summers at Shinnecock 1891-1902, Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 21) Indeed, Chase’s decision to return to the United States following his time abroad was fully intended as a move toward creating an American school of painting, one that looked to Europe for direction, but that would eventually become its own unique form of expression. As Chase himself wrote, “I was young, American art was young; I had faith in it.” (as quoted in R. Pisano, William Merritt Chase, exhibition catalogue, Southampton, New York, 1976, p. 35) Chase’s Portrait of My Sister (Hattie) exemplifies the successful amalgamation of all that was admired and acclaimed in late nineteenth century portraiture, a fusion executed with painterly proficiency, as only an American artist could.