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William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916). <em>Still Life, Fish</em>, 1912. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 × 39 7/16 in. (81 × 100.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 13.54 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 13.54_SL1.jpg)
William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916). Still Life, Fish, 1912. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 × 39 7/16 in. (81 × 100.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 13.54 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 13.54_SL1.jpg)
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Still Life, Fish

William Merritt Chase

American Art

On View:
Late in his career, William Merritt Chase took to painting dramatic still lifes of fish, often staging the process as a demonstration or performance for students—in this case for his American students while in Bruges, Belgium, and for the Brooklyn Museum’s then-director William H. Fox, who recorded the artist’s bravura method for posterity. Drawing on his Munich training (in the 1870s), and its emphasis on the high tonal contrast and vigorous brushwork exemplified by Dutch and Spanish Baroque art, Chase painted quickly, “wet into wet” (brushing wet paint into wet paint), beginning with a base preparation of silvery white and blue tones. Identifying the brightest passage at the outset, Chase then worked up the darks and lights simultaneously. Here that bright area is the upturned belly of the skate, or ray, described with layer after layer of milky, tinted whites punctuated by the exuberant gestures of orange-red that suggest a bloody gash.
ARTIST William Merritt Chase, American, 1849–1916
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1912
DIMENSIONS 31 7/8 × 39 7/16 in. (81 × 100.2 cm) frame: 45 5/8 × 53 × 4 in. (115.9 × 134.6 × 10.2 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed lower left: "Wm M. Chase"
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 13.54
CREDIT LINE John B. Woodward Memorial Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916). Still Life, Fish, 1912. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 × 39 7/16 in. (81 × 100.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 13.54 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 13.54_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 13.54_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916). <em>Still Life, Fish</em>, 1912. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 × 39 7/16 in. (81 × 100.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 13.54 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 13.54_SL1.jpg)

TAGS

painting
fish
still life
dead
brevity of life
memento mori
rot
technique
20thC

TAGS

painting
fish
still life
dead
brevity of life
memento mori
rot
technique
20thC

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