Portrait of a Man

Born in Indiana, William Merritt Chase attended New York’s National Academy of Design and later studied in Munich, Germany, where at least 275 American art students are documented to have studied between 1870 and 1885. The sitter in this portrait is thought to be one of Chase’s fellow students, possibly John White Alexander. The dark palette and choice of a wooden support show Chase’s adoption of old master painting techniques, which were taught along with more experimental approaches at the Munich Academy in those years. A renowned teacher, Chase launched the careers of a whole generation of American artists from his posts at the Art Students League, the Brooklyn Art Association, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He also founded what is now the Parsons School of Design in New York. He was very well liked by his students: one of them, Georgia O’Keeffe, recalled “something fresh and energetic and fierce and exacting about him that made him fun.”