Frank Swift Chase
Encyclopedia
Frank Swift Chase was an American Post-Impressionist landscape
painter and a founder of the Woodstock Artists Association in Woodstock, New York
, the art colony
at Nantucket, Massachusetts
, and the Sarasota School of Art in Florida
.
and high school
in St Louis. Despite a mathematical mind, he did not progress to college
, instead working as an assistant in his father’s laboratory
at the Aluminum Company of America in Bauxite, Arkansas
. His father was an Alcoa chemist
noted among the pioneers of experimentation with the use of nitroglycerin in mining
.
In his early twenties he traveled to New York City
to join his elder brother, Edward Leigh Chase
, at the Art Students League
, and later followed him again to ASL's Art League School of Landscape Painting at Woodstock, where he studied under Birge Harrison and John Carlson in 1909. The Chase brothers, both gifted artists, were early members of the Woodstock artist’s colony, whose participants worked and lived in hand-made Catskill Mountain
cabins as part of Ralph Whitehead’s experiment with utopian living at Byrdcliffe
, the Bohemian
settlement nestled in the slope
s above the town
.
later, in 1919, Chase was one of the founder
s of the Woodstock Artists’ Association, along with Andrew Dasburg
, Carl Eric Lindin, Henry Lee McFee
, and his former teacher John Carlson. The following year he summered on Nantucket Island, where he established his first art school
. From 1920 onward, Chase was the leading teacher
of painting
there for three decades. Dubbed “the dean
of Nantucket artists” by the Artists Association of Nantucket, he was largely responsible for the development of that community
as a true art colony. Among Chase’s most important legacies were his students, including many who became renowned painters themselves: Elizabeth Saltonstall, Isabelle Hollister Tuttle, Ruth Haviland Sutton, Emily Hoffmeier and Anne Ramsdell Congdon. Chase encouraged open-air painting classes, weather
permitting, otherwise utilizing wharf
cottages along the waterfront, reminiscent of his own tutelage back in the mountain shanties
of Woodstock. He helped to establish and nurture the Nantucket Artists Association, along with other influential local artists like Pat Gardner, Sybil Goldsmith, Philip Burnham Hicken, Edgar Jenney, C. Robert Perrin and Tony Sarg
.
Although based in Manhattan
, Woodstock and Nantucket, Chase traveled around The United States. He spent a two-year stint
in southern California
during 1935 and 1936, painting the desert
outside Palm Springs
. In 1940, he founded the Sarasota School of Art at Longboat Key, Florida
, where he taught periodically through 1952. Back in Woodstock, he taught and helped to promote such future notables as Harvey Fite
, Anton Refregier
and Marko Vukovic
.
, on 3 July 1958. He is buried among other family
members in the Artists Cemetery
in Woodstock.
and Post-Impressionism, he became more faithful to nature
as his style
matured, many of his later landscapes evoking a spiritual kinship
with earlier Hudson River School
masters like Albert Bierstadt
, Thomas Cole
and Frederic Edwin Church
.
His brother Edward Leigh Chase is the paternal grandfather of the actor Chevy Chase
.
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
painter and a founder of the Woodstock Artists Association in Woodstock, New York
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 at the 2000 census.The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county...
, the art colony
Art colony
right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
at Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...
, and the Sarasota School of Art in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
Education and training
Chase was born in St Louis, Missouri, on 12 March 1886. The fourth child of Grace Metcalfe and Charles Denison Chase, he attended public elementary schoolElementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in St Louis. Despite a mathematical mind, he did not progress to college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
, instead working as an assistant in his father’s laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
at the Aluminum Company of America in Bauxite, Arkansas
Bauxite, Arkansas
Bauxite is a town in Saline County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 432 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the mineral bauxite, the source ore for aluminum, which was found in...
. His father was an Alcoa chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
noted among the pioneers of experimentation with the use of nitroglycerin in mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
.
In his early twenties he traveled to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to join his elder brother, Edward Leigh Chase
Edward Leigh Chase
Edward Leigh Chase was an American painter and illustrator, and an early member of the Byrdcliffe experiment which gave rise to the artists' colony at Woodstock, New York...
, at the Art Students League
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
, and later followed him again to ASL's Art League School of Landscape Painting at Woodstock, where he studied under Birge Harrison and John Carlson in 1909. The Chase brothers, both gifted artists, were early members of the Woodstock artist’s colony, whose participants worked and lived in hand-made Catskill Mountain
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
cabins as part of Ralph Whitehead’s experiment with utopian living at Byrdcliffe
Byrdcliffe Colony
The Byrdcliffe Colony, also called the Byrdliffe Arts Colony or Byrdcliffe Historic District, was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by Jane and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and colleagues, Bolton Brown and Hervey White...
, the Bohemian
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
settlement nestled in the slope
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
s above the town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
.
Teacher and founder
A decadeDecade
A decade is a period of 10 years. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten. This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas and dies , which is not correct....
later, in 1919, Chase was one of the founder
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
s of the Woodstock Artists’ Association, along with Andrew Dasburg
Andrew Dasburg
Andrew Michael Dasburg was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism".-Biography:...
, Carl Eric Lindin, Henry Lee McFee
Henry Lee McFee
Henry Lee McFee was a pioneer American cubist painter and a prominent member of the Woodstock artists colony.-Biography:...
, and his former teacher John Carlson. The following year he summered on Nantucket Island, where he established his first art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
. From 1920 onward, Chase was the leading teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
of painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
there for three decades. Dubbed “the dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of Nantucket artists” by the Artists Association of Nantucket, he was largely responsible for the development of that community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
as a true art colony. Among Chase’s most important legacies were his students, including many who became renowned painters themselves: Elizabeth Saltonstall, Isabelle Hollister Tuttle, Ruth Haviland Sutton, Emily Hoffmeier and Anne Ramsdell Congdon. Chase encouraged open-air painting classes, weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
permitting, otherwise utilizing wharf
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
cottages along the waterfront, reminiscent of his own tutelage back in the mountain shanties
Shanty town
A shanty town is a slum settlement of impoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap materials: often plywood, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic...
of Woodstock. He helped to establish and nurture the Nantucket Artists Association, along with other influential local artists like Pat Gardner, Sybil Goldsmith, Philip Burnham Hicken, Edgar Jenney, C. Robert Perrin and Tony Sarg
Tony Sarg
Anthony Frederick Sarg , known professionally as Tony Sarg, was a German American puppeteer and illustrator. He was described as "America's Puppet Master", and in his biography as the father of modern puppetry in North America.Sarg was born in Cobán, Guatemala, to Francis Charles Sarg and his...
.
Although based in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Woodstock and Nantucket, Chase traveled around The United States. He spent a two-year stint
Stint
A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic "Calidris" assemblage - often separated in Erolia -, which in North America are known as peeps...
in southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
during 1935 and 1936, painting the desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
outside Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
. In 1940, he founded the Sarasota School of Art at Longboat Key, Florida
Longboat Key, Florida
Longboat Key is a town in Manatee and Sarasota counties along the central west coast of the U.S. state of Florida, located on the barrier island of the same name. Longboat Key is south of Anna Maria Island, between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost equally divided between Manatee...
, where he taught periodically through 1952. Back in Woodstock, he taught and helped to promote such future notables as Harvey Fite
Harvey Fite
Harvey Fite was a pioneering American sculptor, painter and earth artist best known for his monumental land sculpture Opus 40. A teacher, innovator and Woodstock artist of many talents, he was primarily a sculptor of wood and stone...
, Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier
Anton Refregier was a Russian immigrant painter in the United States.He made the 27 murals in the Rincon Center in San Francisco, California, which depict the history of California, in the style of the social realism.- Life and early career:Refregier was born in Moscow and emigrated to the United...
and Marko Vukovic
Marko Vukovic
Marko Vukovic is a Serbian rugby union player. He currently plays for Rugby Club Pobednik. -References:...
.
Death
Chase died at the Benedictine Hospital in Kingston, New YorkKingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
, on 3 July 1958. He is buried among other family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
members in the Artists Cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in Woodstock.
Legacy
Chase's paintings are heirs of the Northern Romantic tradition. Clearly influenced in his youth by American ImpressionismAmerican Impressionism
Impressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-An emerging artistic style from Paris:...
and Post-Impressionism, he became more faithful to nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
as his style
Painting style
In the visual arts, style is a "...distinctive manner which permits the grouping of works into related categories." or "...any distinctive, and therefore recognizable, way in which an act is performed or an artifact made or ought to be performed and made." It refers to the visual appearance of a...
matured, many of his later landscapes evoking a spiritual kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
with earlier Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
masters like Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...
, Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century...
and Frederic Edwin Church
Frederic Edwin Church
Frederic Edwin Church was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters...
.
His brother Edward Leigh Chase is the paternal grandfather of the actor Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
.
Exhibitions
- Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1918–1923
- Corcoran Gallery, 1919–1923; Newport Artists Association, 1920 and 1924 (first prize)
- Salmagundi Art ClubSalmagundi ClubThe Salmagundi Club, also known as the Salmagundi Art Club, was founded in 1871 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, in the United States. It currently is located at 47 Fifth Avenue...
, 1921; National Academy of DesignNational Academy of DesignThe National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
, 1921 - Art Institute of ChicagoArt Institute of ChicagoThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, 1922 (prize) - Eastman School of MusicEastman School of MusicThe Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
, 1922; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery (New York), 1922; Philadelphia Arts Council, 1922 - Minneapolis Institute of ArtsMinneapolis Institute of ArtsThe Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...
, 1922; Herron Art Institute, 1922; Indiana Artists Association, 1923; Carnegie InstituteCarnegie Museums of PittsburghCarnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, 1923; Peabody Art GalleryPeabody InstituteThe Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
, BaltimoreBaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, 1923 - Art Directors Club, 1924 (medal); San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, 1928
- Woodstock Artists Association; Springfield Artists Association; Kenneth Taylor Gallery, Nantucket
- 1953; Nantucket Artists Association, 1954.
Associations
- Member: Allied Artists Association, 1913
- SpringfieldSpringfield, IllinoisSpringfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
Artists Association (Illinois) - ConnecticutConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
Academy of Fine Arts, 1922 - Woodstock Artists Association, 1919
- Nantucket Artists Association.
Sources
- Woodstock Artists Association, permanent archives.
- Nantucket Historical Association, archives.
- A Genealogy of David Latham Stevens and Richard Chase Stevens, (Volume IV), by D.L. Stevens.
- The Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror
External links
- "Grounded at Sea Level: Frank Swift Chase on Nantucket", by Robert Frazier