William Merritt Chase

William Merritt Chase (born November 1, 1849, Williamsburg [now Nineveh], Indiana, U.S.—died October 25, 1916, New York, New York) was a painter and teacher, who helped establish the fresh color and bravura technique of much early 20th-century American painting.

Chase studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City and under Karl von Piloty for six years in Munich. He worked for a time in the grays and browns of the Munich school, but in the 1880s he took up a lighter palette, which was then popular in Paris.

(Impressionist or not? Find out in our list of Artists Mistaken for Impressionists.)

An extremely effective teacher, Chase taught many pupils, first at the Art Students League of New York and then at his own school in New York City. He is best known for his portraits and figure studies, his still lifes of dead fish, and his studio interiors—e.g., In the Studio (1880–83). His mature style is notable for its bold and spontaneous brushwork and other marks of virtuoso execution.