William Merritt Chase: Benefactor

"The Yellow Gown" by William Merritt Chase

"William Merritt Chase was a generous patron of the arts, buying not only the pictures of arrived artists but those of his own pupils before they had achieved recognition, thus conferring it upon them.

Chase's assistance to his pupil C. W. Hawthorne in his beginnings was of the greatest value to him. He also encouraged and helped his Philadelphia pupil, Leopold Seiffert. He had much to do with starting Schreyvogel on the path to success. During his presidency of the Society of American Artists he called the attention of the jurors to the work of this young painter, who had not previously met with recognition. The fact that Schreyvogel's pictures were not only admitted but that one of them received the prize at that exhibition made a turning point in his career.

He was also more than generous in his exchanges with other painters. Henry Poore tells of his own experience. On the opening day of Chase's exhibition at the National Arts Club Poore ran across him. After greeting his fellow artist Chase inquired, with a gesture that swept the room: 'Well, have you made your choice?' Mr. Poore, rather overcome by this generosity selected a small sketch, but Chase protested, 'I had thought you might want this,' indicating a splendid fish still life. What was more, he insisted upon presenting it.

A pupil in one of his European classes remembers how Chase once offered to exchange with a European painter who was so far removed from his class as an artist that Chase's act could only seem to the outsider a condescension. Chase selected a little sketch of this painter's in which his kindness found something to admire and gave him in return a beautiful fish picture. When the pupil protested, Chase's reply was, 'Why not? When you make a gift give your best.' There spoke the innate aristocracy of art."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "The Life and Art of William Merritt Chase" by Katharine Metcalf Roof.)