The Old Road to the Sea, c. 1893

© 2023 The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon, 1938.333

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About the Artist

William Merritt Chase (born Nov. 1, 1849, Williamsburg, Ind., U.S. — died Oct. 25, 1916, New York, N.Y) was an American painter and teacher. He studied in New York and for six years in Munich. Chase became the most important U.S. art teacher of his generation, first at New York's Art Students League and later at his own school, founded in 1896. His teachings, particularly his advocacy of fresh colour and bravura technique, greatly influenced the course of early 20th-century U.S. painting; among his students were Georgia O'Keeffe and Charles Demuth. As a painter, he was very prolific; his 2,000 paintings include portraits, interiors (e.g., In the Studio, 1880 – 83), figure studies, still lifes, and landscapes characterized by bold, spontaneous brushwork.