Europe, where he absorbed the lasting infl uences of Frans Hals and Diego Velázquez,
as well as the more temporary eff ects of German realism. Student-era paintings like
Th e Turkish Page (opposite) show his facility as a draftsman and painter, and presage
an interest in sumptuous textures that would characterize his mature studio work.
His reputation having preceded him, Chase returned to the United States in
1878 and procured a job teaching at the Art Students League of New York. He
moved into the well-known Tenth Street Studio Building, converting his studio
into the most lavish artist’s space in the city (see Th e Tenth Street Studio, opposite).
Exotically furnished, it became a cultural attraction in Manhattan, with the artist
hosting Saturday receptions, classes, meetings, dinners and music recitals.
Th e European sophistication that Chase brought to the New York art world
had considerable impact. Art historian Barbara Dayer Gallati noted his importance
in altering “the concept of the artist from bohemian outsider to the status of gen-
tlemanly sophisticate.” Th ese changes in the public’s perception didn’t come easily;
Chase’s St. Louis benefactors, preferring his earlier tight work, were not pleased
by the painterly direction he’d taken during his years abroad. In the early 1880s,
newspaper critics voiced their displeasure with what they saw as Chase’s “tricky
eff ects” and his “heavy and inaccurate” hand.
A trip to Paris in 1881—there would be many visits to Europe in the ensuing
years—kindled Chase’s interest in plein air work and the adoption of a lighter palette.
ABOVE: Painted the year Chase and
his young bride sought respite
in Brooklyn, Washing Day—A
Backyard Reminiscence of Brooklyn
(ca 1887; oil on wood panel,
15¼x18^55 ⁄ 8 ) is composed of a patch-
work of drying linen, illuminated
at intervals by direct sunlight and
strung along a zigzag of diagonal
clotheslines. Painted over a red
ground, the work gives every indi-
cation of having been started and
fi nished, wet-into-wet, in one ses-
sion. At the time, this was a nearly
unique free and confi dent handling
of oil painting in America.COLLECTION OF LILLY ENDOWMENT, INC.DECEMBER 2016 49
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