William Merritt Chase was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design.
“For the Little One” shows Chase’s wife, Alice, in the entry hall of the couple’s summer home at Shinnecock, in the town of Southampton, Long Island, New York. The artist captured her engaged in a genteel handicraft with a maternal subtext: sewing a bit of apparel for a “little one,” presumably one of the five children in the Chase family by 1895. While he included in the scene decorative elements that conjured the aesthetic atmosphere of their residence, Chase focused more intently on the effects of light, demonstrating his command of plein-air painting, even with an indoor subject.
“For the Little One” shows Chase’s wife, Alice, in the entry hall of the couple’s summer home at Shinnecock, in the town of Southampton, Long Island, New York. The artist captured her engaged in a genteel handicraft with a maternal subtext: sewing a bit of apparel for a “little one,” presumably one of the five children in the Chase family by 1895. While he included in the scene decorative elements that conjured the aesthetic atmosphere of their residence, Chase focused more intently on the effects of light, demonstrating his command of plein-air painting, even with an indoor subject.
William Merritt Chase - For the Little One
