William Merritt Chase: A Modern Master was the first retrospective exhibition on Chase in thirty years and presented the full breadth of the artist’s achievements over his four-decade-long career. Featuring more than 60 key works of art by Chase from collections in the United States and Europe, the exhibition shed new light on the artist’s aesthetic philosophy, stylistic experimentation, and working methods. Providing a fresh reappraisal of the art of William Merritt Chase, the exhibition highlighted the international context of his art and uncovered his contribution to modern art at the turn of the twentieth century.
This examination of Chase as a renowned figure in the international art circles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries invited viewers to reevaluate his position as an eclectic artist, influential teacher, and promoter of American art. It was also an opportunity to recognize his role as a pioneering leader in the avant-garde circles at the turn of the century and to assert his sophisticated experimentation as one of his strongest virtues.
Organized chronologically and thematically, the exhibition traced Chase’s cosmopolitan career with a special emphasis on technical mastery through a variety of subjects. Works in oil and pastel from the Terra Foundation for American Art were presented alongside full-length portraits, landscapes and interior scenes. The exhibition was a four-way partnership among the Phillips Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, and the Terra Foundation for American Art and reached broad audiences both in the United States and in Europe. It opened at the Phillips Collection, in Washington, DC and travelled to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Ca’ Pesaro (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia), in Venice, Italy.
