International studio (60.1916/1917)

• STUDIO


VOL. LX. No. 240 Copyright 1917, by John Lane Company FEBRUARY, 1917

ILLIAM MERRITT CHASE:
HIS ART AND HIS IN-
FLUENCE
BY KATHARINE M. ROOF
In passing through a gallery it is often unnec-
essary to look for the signature in order to
recognize the painter. This may be a question
of personality or of manner. The big man has
artistic personality, the lesser one a manner. The
clever painter has mannerisms, the master has
touch.
The brush of William M. Chase had touch.
More than that it held the elusive secret of
style. And style is a
quality of the master.
The most talented stu-
dent’s work can only
promise, not possess it.
The canvases of many a
strong painter lack it.
It cannot be acquired,
it is the most aristo-
cratic and intangible of
all the qualities that go
to make a good picture.
It seems a gift as subtle
and innate as magnet¬
ism. Yet at this pres-
ent period—or rather
phase — of painting
when brilliant but too
often unsound tech¬
nique on the one hand,
and the hysterical un-
inspired search for ec-
centricity and original-
ity on the other are most
in evidence, it would

seem as if this precious heritage of the old
masters were the rarest thing in modern art.
In analysing those qualities and phases which
constitute the individuality of Chase’s art and
which have become its influence, one would
select as most obvious his painting of the figure
in the interior and in the open, his revivification
and development of the art of still life, and a
certain distinctive treatment evolved from the
study of Japanese art.
From the old Dutch masters he learned much
concerning the treatment of the figure in the in-
terior and the painting of indoor light. That
was one of his contributions to American art, but
he did not imitate the
Dutch masters, he as-
similated them and
later gave out in a
manner of his own.
Entirely underived
was his use of the figure
in the landscape; the
figure not dominating
but an integral part of
the landscape. No one
has appreciated as he
has the value of the
small decisive human
note in relation to the
large spaces of sea and
earth and sky, the sig-
nificant accent of that
small spot of red or blue
or black. The “spot”
was usually one of his
decorative children, for
inevitably having
chosen for himself a
paintable wife, the pen-



THE ARTIST’S WIFE

BY WM. M. CHASE

CV