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A City Park

Small painting of woman in pink and black sitting on park bench.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Small painting of woman in pink and black sitting on park bench.

Date:

c. 1887

Artist:

William Merritt Chase
American, 1849–1916

About this artwork

William Merritt Chase was one of the most influential painters in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. After an extended stay in Europe, which ended when he established his studio in New York City in 1878, Chase demonstrated his extraordinary versatility, painting portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre scenes. His vigor as an artist was equaled by his long and successful career as a teacher: his classes at the Art Students League in New York and the Shinnecock Hills Summer School on Long Island attracted many students.

In the mid-1880s, Chase embarked on a group of plein-air paintings inspired by New York’s parks. Influenced by the brilliant colors and unorthodox compositional formats of the French Impressionists, he often countered a broad, comparatively empty foreground with a detailed background. In this painting, which probably depicts Brooklyn’s Tompkins Park, almost half the canvas is filled by the wide, empty walkway, which, with its strong diagonal borders, carries the eye into the composition. This swift movement into space is slowed by the woman on the bench, who appears to gaze expectantly toward someone approaching along the path. To the left, colorful flowers provide a contrast to the bare walk at the right. This informal, seemingly spontaneous work, capturing the sparkle, light, and activity of a summer day, testifies to the freshness and vitality that Chase brought to the painting of such scenes.

Status

On View, Gallery 171

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

William Merritt Chase

Title

A City Park

Place

New York City (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.

c. 1887

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed, lower right: "Wm M. Chase."

Dimensions

34.6 × 49.9 cm (13 5/8 × 19 5/8 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Dr. John J. Ireland

Reference Number

1968.88

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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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/28849/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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