No Estúdio (In the Studio) - William Merritt Chase
Coleção privada
OST - 74x59 - 1892
William Merritt Chase executed four paintings in two weeks during the summer of 1892, marking one of the most productive and inspired years of his artistic career. Chase and his wife Alice had just moved into their Shinnecock Hills home on Long Island, a newly-designed residence by renowned architect Stanford White. The move allowed Chase to serve as the Director of the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art–one of the nation’s first programs dedicated to plein air painting. Already a well-respected teacher in the New York artistic community, Chase’s endeavors in Shinnecock further solidified his reputation as one of the leading American painters of his day. The change of scenery from city life to quiet country living saw Chase concentrating increasingly on family subjects and peaceful interiors.
In the Studio, completed from the Chase family’s Shinnecock home in 1892, masterfully blends the artist’s domestic and professional spheres in this dynamic and vibrant interior scene. Chase illustrated several portraits of his wife, Alice Gerson, seated in various rooms as the pair settled into their new Southampton residence. The artist’s most beloved subject to portray, his representations of Alice are among Chase’s most treasured and successful compositions.
Nestled in a rattan chair, an oversized portfolio of prints positioned atop her lap, Alice meets her husband’s gaze in the intimate moment captured here. The objects adorning the artist’s studio are intricate and striking, so much so that the viewer’s gaze dances back and forth between Alice and the remainder of the beautifully-decorated studio. By situating his wife within the heart of his working space, Chase effortlessly fuses his home and work lives and allows viewers greater insight into both his family’s routine and the innerworkings of his Shinnecock studio.
With pictures such as In the Studio, Chase joins a long tradition of painters illustrating their own artistic quarters. His interest in artists depicting their studios dates back to the Spanish Baroque period, having visited Madrid in the summer of 1881 to study the work of Diego Velazquez. It is said that Velazquez was a “ruling artistic presence at Shinnecock,” and that Chase even had a detail of Las Meninas pinned to the wall of his studio. “Of all the Old Masters he is the most modern,” Chase declared of Velazquez (Exh. Cat., “William Merritt Chase: Summers at Shinnecock,” pp. 52-53). Velazquez executed Las Meninas in the Pieza Principal of the Spanish royal household, which acted as his studio while serving as court painter to King Philip IV. Recognized as one of the most important paintings in the history of Western art, Las Meninas became the template for artists illustrating their own studios. Velazquez would have been on Chase’s mind during his instruction at the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art and as he composed his own paintings in his home studio.
The precedent of artists incorporating their studios into paintings extended well into the nineteenth century. In 1881, Chase met Belgian painter Alfred Stevens, whose style of painting greatly influenced Chase’s own work. Take Stevens’ In the Studio, executed a few years prior to Chase’s identically-titled composition. Just as Chase incorporates a great deal of fine art and objects into his painting, Stevens adorns his walls with portraits, mirrors and miscellaneous pieces. In both works, the art objects decorating the studio are as integral to the subject matter as the figures themselves. While Chase adopted a distinctly modern and American approach to his studio paintings, his pictures are simultaneously indebted to his European contemporaries and predecessors alike.
Nineteenth century American artists of Chase’s generation began keeping increasingly ornate studio spaces, inspired by the grandeur of their European counterparts, whose studios they encountered during trips abroad. This heightened awareness for studio decor directly correlates to the interest in illustrating interior subject matter.
Among the objects positioned in the background of In the Studio are a bronze lion by French sculptor Antoine Louis Barye as well as a print by Alfred Stevens entitled Bête à bon dieu. Chase’s decision to feature a work by Stevens is symbolic of the professional relationship shared between the two artists. He also personally owned fourteen paintings by Stevens, which further underscores the level of respect and depth of influence at play.
Ultimately, the tradition of the artist painting his own studio exemplifies how he wishes to be perceived by others. In the Studio represents Alice Gerson as the principle subject; however, it is equally a portrait of how Chase views himself on a much more profound, introspective level. Through this centuries-long tradition of painters illustrating their studios, emerges an allegorical element in which the studio space is the physical expression of the artist’s mind and style. “Great artists get so much done because they delight in their work,” Chase urged. By incorporating fine art, sentimental objects, and beloved family members into his composition for In the Studio, Chase showcases what is most important to him as both an artist and man.
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