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Lot Essay
Between 1886 and 1890, William Merritt Chase painted a seminal series of gem-like paintings of New York City parks. As Barbara Dyer Gallati describes, these works are “not only beautiful but also remarkably innovative, in that they are the first paintings in which an Impressionist style was used to depict American subjects.” (William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886-1890, Brooklyn, 1999, p. 13) As exemplified by Flower Beds, Central Park, this important series revolutionized American landscape painting by capturing the modern public leisure spaces across the city with an avant-garde emphasis on light and color.
While in prior years Chase had annually travelled abroad to Europe, his lifestyle changed in 1887 when he married Alice Gerson and his first child was born. Living in Brooklyn and later Greenwich Village, the artist began to find inspiration across his home city, particularly the Brooklyn sites of Prospect and Tomkins Parks. Around this time, New York saw notable exhibitions of European Impressionist’s depictions of their public spaces, notably including Durand-Ruel’s groundbreaking show of April 1886 featuring paintings from Edouard Manet’s In the Conservatory (1878-79, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin) to a study for Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grand Jatte (1884, Art Institute of Chicago). Chase adapted these new approaches from Europe for his own American subject matter. As fellow artist Kenyon Cox praised, “From these explorations he has brought back…pictures of parks and docks which are veritable little jewels…It is new proof…that it is not subjects that are lacking in this country, but eyes to see them…’” (as quoted in E. Smithgall, William Merritt Chase: A Modern Master, p. 6)
In 1890, complications with Chase’s Prospect Park painting permit led to a focus on Central Park that summer. As seen in the present painting, Chase’s exploration of this most famous New York park purposefully included not only the highly frequented spots, but also more unusual views known only to locals. Indeed, his attraction to spots “rarely troubled by any but special lovers of the Park” led contemporary critic Charles De Kay to declare, “[Chase] has discovered Central Park.” (as quoted in William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886-1890, p. 123)
The present work and the closely related A Visit to the Garden (The Nursery) (1890, Private Collection) depict the propagating garden located in the upper east corner of Central Park around 105th Street and 5th Avenue, which is today the location of the Conservatory Garden. De Kay describes, “‘The Nursery’ is a spot seen from the cars of the Hudson River Railroad, little frequented save by those who live near East 100th Street. Here flowers are raised for subsequent transplanting to other parts of the park; here one finds that peculiar mixture of straight lines with crooked, of orderly ranks of seedlings with frames abandoned to the wildest growth, which characterizes such places. The view is taken from the south. Just beyond the locust-trees is the winding piece of water called Harlem Lake." (as quoted in William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886-1890, p. 143)
In the present work, Chase particularly delights in the ‘wildest’ blooming flowers in the foreground, painting them with gestural dashes of brilliant red, pink and yellow and allowing them to almost obscure the empty flower beds seen in the middle ground to the right of the building. Mounds of soil visible at right hint at the garden as one in progress of development, even as the absence of figures allows the scene to evoke an idyllic oasis within the city. When this painting was first exhibited for auction in 1891, the critic at the Sun notably highlighted, “best of all in color is ‘Flower Beds,’ no. 49, a veritable little marvel of bright yet exquisitely harmonious tints, and of fresh and skillful handling." (“Some Questions of Art. Pictures by Mr. William M. Chase,” Sun, March 1, 1891, p. 14)
Not only exceptional for its effervescent color, Flower Beds, Central Park stands as one of the culminating paintings of this brief yet brilliant era of Chase’s career focusing on the New York parks. The following year of 1891 would start his next phase at Shinnecock on Long Island, marking an end to the series. Epitomizing this special moment of innovation, the present work beautifully illustrates why Chase continues to be recognized as one of the great Impressionist painters of the American landscape.
While in prior years Chase had annually travelled abroad to Europe, his lifestyle changed in 1887 when he married Alice Gerson and his first child was born. Living in Brooklyn and later Greenwich Village, the artist began to find inspiration across his home city, particularly the Brooklyn sites of Prospect and Tomkins Parks. Around this time, New York saw notable exhibitions of European Impressionist’s depictions of their public spaces, notably including Durand-Ruel’s groundbreaking show of April 1886 featuring paintings from Edouard Manet’s In the Conservatory (1878-79, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin) to a study for Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grand Jatte (1884, Art Institute of Chicago). Chase adapted these new approaches from Europe for his own American subject matter. As fellow artist Kenyon Cox praised, “From these explorations he has brought back…pictures of parks and docks which are veritable little jewels…It is new proof…that it is not subjects that are lacking in this country, but eyes to see them…’” (as quoted in E. Smithgall, William Merritt Chase: A Modern Master, p. 6)
In 1890, complications with Chase’s Prospect Park painting permit led to a focus on Central Park that summer. As seen in the present painting, Chase’s exploration of this most famous New York park purposefully included not only the highly frequented spots, but also more unusual views known only to locals. Indeed, his attraction to spots “rarely troubled by any but special lovers of the Park” led contemporary critic Charles De Kay to declare, “[Chase] has discovered Central Park.” (as quoted in William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886-1890, p. 123)
The present work and the closely related A Visit to the Garden (The Nursery) (1890, Private Collection) depict the propagating garden located in the upper east corner of Central Park around 105th Street and 5th Avenue, which is today the location of the Conservatory Garden. De Kay describes, “‘The Nursery’ is a spot seen from the cars of the Hudson River Railroad, little frequented save by those who live near East 100th Street. Here flowers are raised for subsequent transplanting to other parts of the park; here one finds that peculiar mixture of straight lines with crooked, of orderly ranks of seedlings with frames abandoned to the wildest growth, which characterizes such places. The view is taken from the south. Just beyond the locust-trees is the winding piece of water called Harlem Lake." (as quoted in William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886-1890, p. 143)
In the present work, Chase particularly delights in the ‘wildest’ blooming flowers in the foreground, painting them with gestural dashes of brilliant red, pink and yellow and allowing them to almost obscure the empty flower beds seen in the middle ground to the right of the building. Mounds of soil visible at right hint at the garden as one in progress of development, even as the absence of figures allows the scene to evoke an idyllic oasis within the city. When this painting was first exhibited for auction in 1891, the critic at the Sun notably highlighted, “best of all in color is ‘Flower Beds,’ no. 49, a veritable little marvel of bright yet exquisitely harmonious tints, and of fresh and skillful handling." (“Some Questions of Art. Pictures by Mr. William M. Chase,” Sun, March 1, 1891, p. 14)
Not only exceptional for its effervescent color, Flower Beds, Central Park stands as one of the culminating paintings of this brief yet brilliant era of Chase’s career focusing on the New York parks. The following year of 1891 would start his next phase at Shinnecock on Long Island, marking an end to the series. Epitomizing this special moment of innovation, the present work beautifully illustrates why Chase continues to be recognized as one of the great Impressionist painters of the American landscape.