“I am never so disappointed in a piece of my work as
when it meets with the approval of the public.”
WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE
tonal views whose vast planes of water receded to high horizons, dotted with
distant buildings and chimneys.
Critical understanding was slow to arrive—an 1887 review commended Chase
for his technique: “By his vigorous brushstrokes he has swept away half a century’s
growth of false creeds and false workman-
ship,” while faulting him for not celebrating
the grand and nationalistic vistas of the
Hudson River School. Moreover, Chase held
a series of studio auctions in the 1880s and
’90s that were invariably disappointing; sales
were so poor and paintings could be had so
cheaply that the Art Amateur titled its coverage of his 1891 auction “Th e Slaughter
of Mr. Chase’s Pictures.” Eventually, he was forced to liquidate and leave his fabled
Tenth Street studio. Reconciled to commercial neglect, Chase said, “I am never so
disappointed in a piece of my work as when it meets with the approval of the public.”
Shinnecock and the Chase School
But Chase’s growing expertise as a plein air painter and his reputation as a
teacher were appreciated by several patrons on Long Island, who off ered to build
a school and separate home for the artist and his family at Shinnecock Hills. It
was there that Chase ran the fi rst major summer school for landscape painting
in America. From 1891 to 1902, he summered at Shinnecock, encouraging stu-
dents to paint rapidly while he produced a second important series of landscape
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