Wind-Swept Sands

Arts of the Americas

1894

William Merritt Chase (American, 1849–1916)

Between 1891 and 1902, William Merritt Chase painted numerous landscapes of the area surrounding the Shinnecock Summer Art School in Long Island, New York, where he was an influential teacher. In Wind-Swept Sands, Chase used rapid brushstrokes to depict the dunes and vegetation, thin washes for the sky, and an overall gray tone to indicate an overcast day. Chase’s teaching method was rooted in the French Impressionist practice of painting outdoors in order to take advantage of natural light and changing weather conditions.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: William Merritt Chase
Title: Wind-Swept Sands
Place: Long Island (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1894
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed recto, bottom-left, on ground, in dark paint: "Wm M. Chase.".
Dimensions: 87 × 101.5 cm (34 1/4 × 39 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. Eric Oldberg in honor of Milo M. Naeve; Friends of American Art and R. H. Love Galleries funds; Walter Aitken Endowment; through prior acquisitions of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1991.249
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/120296/manifest.json

Ronald G. Pisano et al., “William Merritt Chase, Landscapes in Oil” (Yale University Press, 2009, vol. 3) cat. L 192, 97, 166 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), cat. 60.

Cleveland Art Association, First Annual Exhibition, Jan. 22–Feb. 22, 1895, cat. 204.
New York, National Academy of Design, 70th Annual Exhibition, Apr. 1–May 11, 1895, cat. 309.
New York, American Art Galleries, Chase sale, Jan. 7, 1896, no. 1179, as The Windswept Sands.
New York, National Academy of Design, Seventh Annual Exhibition, Apr. 1–May 11, 1895, cat. 309.
New York, American Art Galleries, Catalogue of Paintings belonging to William Merritt Chase, N.A. Jan. 1896, no. 1179.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886–1890, May 26–Aug. 13, 2000; the Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 7–Nov. 26, 2000, Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Dec. 13, 2000–Mar. 11, 2001, cat. 54.

The Dorflinger family, Long Island; John C. Dorflinger, White Milles, Pennsylvania, c. 1950. Robert Schwarz, Frank Schwarz & Son, Philadelphia, sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1991.

Pisano L 192

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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