Beach

Artist William Merritt Chase (American, 1849 - 1916)

Dateca. 1895

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 14 3/4 x 19 7/8 inches (37.47 x 50.48 cm)
Framed: 23 3/8 x 28 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches (59.39 x 72.39 x 5.72 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Frances M. Logan

Object number47-106

SignedSigned lower left: Wm M. Chase.

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionWoman and two children in flat sandy beach. Coud-dotted sky over ocean in the distance.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Nineteenth Century American Painting, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Mo., February 17-March 31, 1974, no cat.

Albrecht Art Museum, St. Joseph, Mo., November 1, 1976-January 30, 1977, no cat.

Gallery Label

William Merritt Chase's Beach shows a long stretch of shoreline along Shinnecock, Long Island, where the painter conducted an important art school for outdoor painting. The bright palette and loose brushwork convey the impression of the light and atmosphere of the coastal environment as well as impart a feeling of comfortable informality. Near the center of the composition, three youngsters, possibly the painter's children, enjoy these warm, breezy conditions. Chase's decision to paint a discretely placed sand pail in a vibrant red and to depict the sky with a greenish cast indicates a desire, shared among many late 19th-century painters, to employ the dynamic visual effects of complementary colors.

Provenance

(Daniel Gallery, New York);

Frances M. Logan, Kansas City, Mo., by 1946;

to NAMA, 1947.

Published References

Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4^th ed. (Kansas City, Mo.: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 255.

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5^th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 251.

Henry Adams, Handbook of American Paintings in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1991), 128–29.

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collections. 6^th ed. (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 240.

Margaret C. Conrads, ed. The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: American Paintings to 1945 (Kansas City, Mo.: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 1: 175–177, 2: 81–82.

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