William Merritt Chase: Carmencita

"Carmencita" by W.M. Chase

"Carmencita" by J.S. Sargent

"It was in the winter of 1890 that the famous Spanish dancer, Carmencita, performed in William Merritt Chase's Tenth Street Studio before the most distinguished audience in New York.

The first time that Carmencita danced in Chase's studio it was atthe instigation of Isabella Stewart Gardeiner. She had already danced for a few painters and friends of the Beckwiths in Carroll Beckwith's studio and in the same way at Sargent's studio in East Twenty-third Street. Mrs. Gardiner, hearing of this, was seized with the desire to see the famous dancer in the atmosphere and setting of a studio instead of in a public hall and expressed her wish to Sargent. Sargent's subsequent letter to Chase shows how the event came to pass.

My Dear Chase, Mrs. Jack Gardiner whom I daresay you know, writes me that she must see the Carmencita and asks me to write her to dance for her some day next week and she will come up from Boston, but my studio is impossible. The gas man tells me that he cannot bring more light into the studio than the two little jets that are there.

Would you be willing to lend your studio for the purpose and be our host for Tuesday night or Thursday of next week? We would each of us invite some friends and Mrs. Gardiner would provide the Carmencita and I the supper and whatever other expenses there might be. I only venture to propose this as I think there is some chance of your enjoying the idea and because your studio would be such a stunning place."

If you don't like the idea or if it would be a great inconvenience speak up and pardon my cheek! Send me an answer by bearer if you can, if not, to the Clarendon soon, as I must write to Mrs. Gardiner. Yours Sincerely, John Sargent

Carmencita danced twice in Chase's studio. Rosina Emmett Sherwood, a guest both evenings, thus describes Carmencita's appearance when she danced: 'Sargent and Chase made her rub the make-up off her face, and brush her frizzed hair back from her forehead, and she was very beautiful and as natural as a country girl dancing on the grass.' 

Even at this remote day the guests of the evening vividly recall it. Women tore off their jewels to throw them at her feet - although it is true that one emotional lady returned the next day to ask the painter to recover her gems! The kindly painter made an effort, but the canny dancer shrugged and snapped her fingers in true Latin fashion and replied that she hadn't the slightest intention of returning the impulsive lady's property.

One evening after the dancing, Sargent asked Carmencita to sing some Spanish songs. For a long time she refused, saying that she was a dancer, not a singer. But Sargent, who knew his Spain, kept insisting that she must know some gypsy or folk songs, and finally the dancer yielded and sang a number of songs with the wild peculiar rhythm of Spanish music, and although Carmencita, as she had said, was not a singer, the little episode made a vivid impression upon her hearers.

Chase and Sargent both painted portraits of Carmencita at this time. Chase's canvas is owned by the Metropolitan Museum and Sargent's by the Luxembourg."

To be continued

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