Painting outdoors with William Merritt Chase at Shinnecock 2

In 1891, William Merritt Chase was invited to teach the skills of painting en plein air in the east of Long Island, New York. The following year he moved his family from New York City to live in their new house in Shinnecock for the summer, as he taught hundreds of students locally. This is part of his own painted record of the twelve consecutive summers he taught there, and follows on from the first that covered the years 1891-95.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Near the Beach, Shinnecock (c 1895), oil on canvas, 76.1 × 122.3 cm, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH. Wikimedia Commons.

Near the Beach, Shinnecock shows the undeveloped land between the Chase house and Shinnecock Bay in about 1895.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Shinnecock Hills (1893-1897), oil on panel, 44.4 × 54.6 cm, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid. Wikimedia Commons.

Shinnecock Hills shows one of the better tracks running inland, painted one summer between 1893-1897.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Shinnecock Hills (c 1895), oil on canvas, 50.8 × 61 cm, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY. Wikimedia Commons.

Shinnecock Hills is another track in about 1895, at the height of the summer.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Shinnecock Hills, Long Island (c 1895), further details not known. Wikimedia Commons.

Shinnecock Hills, Long Island from about 1895 shows two of the Chase family foraging for berries in the wild shrubs near their house.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Shinnecock Landscape with Figures (1895), oil on canvas, 148 x 211 cm, Private collection. WikiArt.

Shinnecock Landscape with Figures is another view of foraging fruit in 1895.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Sunlight and Shadow, Shinnecock Hills (date not known), oil on canvas, 88.9 x 101.6 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. Wikimedia Commons.

Chase’s undated Sunlight and Shadow, Shinnecock Hills looks west along Shinnecock Bay towards West Hampton.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Landscape: Shinnecock, Long Island (c 1896), oil on wood panel, dimensions not known, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ. Wikimedia Commons.

Landscape: Shinnecock, Long Island is a similar view from about 1896, this time with members of his family.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Morning at Breakwater, Shinnecock (c 1897), oil on canvas, 101.6 × 127 cm, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL. Wikimedia Commons.

Morning at Breakwater, Shinnecock returns to the beach in Shinnecock Bay in about 1897, this time looking to the east.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Afternoon Shadows (c 1897), oil on panel, 36.8 x 40.6 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.

Afternoon Shadows, also from about 1897, shows a location further from their home, with more substantial trees and a farm.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), Seaside Flowers (c 1897), oil on canvas, 73.7 × 97.8 cm, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR. Wikimedia Commons.

Seaside Flowers shows the Chase family picking summer flowers in about 1897.

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), First Touch of Autumn (c 1898), oil on canvas, 101.9 x 127.3 cm, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN. WikiArt.

First Touch of Autumn looks west as fall colours are starting in about 1898.

Chase’s students made many of their own paintings, most of which have now become obscure or lost. One exception is an early landscape by Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922).

Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922), Shinnecock (1906), oil on canvas, 63.5 x 76.2 cm, Private collection. The Athenaeum.

Shinnecock (1906) shows Chase’s unmistakeable influence, and was perhaps painted when Onderdonk was a guest of the Chase family at Shinnecock that year. Onderdonk went on to great success painting bluebonnets in Texas until he died tragically early in 1922, only six years after his teacher.

In the twelve consecutive summers that William Merritt Chase taught plein air painting in Shinnecock, he trained and inspired a whole generation of artists.

References

Hirshler EE (2016) William Merritt Chase, Museum of Fine Arts Boston. ISBN 978 0 87846 839 3.
Longwell AG (2014) William Merritt Chase, A Life in Art, Parrish Art Museum and D Giles. ISBN 978 1 907804 43 4.
Smithgall E et al. (2016) William Merritt Chase, A Modern Master, The Phillips Collection and Yale UP. ISBN 978 0 300 20626 5.