New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1922-08-27
By ROYAL Cortissoz

y
Since Chase's death In 1915 two inn
portant tributes have been paid to him.
Early in tho following winter the Met
ropolitan Museum brought together and
exhibited more than forty Of his paint
ings. Not long afterward Miss Kath-
arine Metcalf Roof publisncdsher biog.
raphy Of the artist. There would aeers
ia have been left nothing else TO do.
but something remair ed--a demonstra-
ton of his work as teacher-and this
has Just been achieved in the shape Of
IN exhibition in Memorial Hall at
Southampton, L. I. II is, in it's implica-
tions, the most instructive Of all the
summer exhibitions arranged apart
from the city.
When Chase settled on the SHINE
cock dunes, in house that Stanford
White designed for him, he accom-
plished one of the outstanding deeds
of his career With the collaboration
Of Mrs. William s. Hoyt, Mrs. Henry
kirke Porter and Mr.. Samuel l.. Par
IRISH, he organized the irst OF cur now
numerous open air art schools. Young
the novelty and the charm OF the en-
terprise attracted many pupils who IN
the long run went down the wind. Miss
Roof, in the memoir just mentioned,
tells of an aspirant who addressed her
teacher in this wise: There Is just
che thing / am worried about, Mr..
Chase. Will you advise me about my
colors? I'm afraid I'm not using the
right kind. I'm afraid these coloYs may
fade" He was a patient man, but there
were limits. ain your case, madam"
he replied. "the very best you can pos
sibly use" They faded like their col
ors, some of the students. But there
were survivors, and that fact, as it
happens, is precious testimony TO
Chase's gift as an instructor.
He was born to show others how 20
paint, and this not solely because ne
knew how to paint himself or even be-
cause he had the rare faculty of trans
hitting knowledge. He was successful
in this field largely because he had all
his life an intense curiosity regarding
the ways and means of painting. Chase
was an assimilative type of artist. He
collected methods as he collected rings
and other beautiful objects. In the
earlier years of his own studies, fore
gathering with Duveneck, in Munich,
he threw off the influence of Piloty as
soon as he saw the greater inspiration
in that of Leibi, and ever after he was
wont to try the new mode of approach
that drifted into his ken. He tried
the dexterity Of Fortuny and Boldini.
He emulated the style of the Belgian
Alfred Stevens. You will find traces in
his art, at different times, of Carolus
Duran and Vollon, of Velasquez and
Whistler. His studio was a veritable
clearing house Of influences" He
paid a certain penalty for his. eclecti-
cism. 1t kept him from being, as deep
ly as might have been desired, his own
man. But it is a mistake to think of
Chase as playing Stevenson's "sedulous
ape" from weak motive. On the
contrary, he did so for the same reason
that governed r. L. S., from passion
for technique.
That burned in him like dame and
that it was that he communicated to
his students. This exhibition~at South
ampton RAY not be one of dazzling
brilliance, but there is reason why it
might justly be made an object of pill
grimage on the part of the art teachers
of the present day. 1t enforces the
principle that the business of the