Untitled (Harbor Scene)

Untitled (Harbor Scene) is one of numerous seascapes that William Merritt Chase painted during the summer months between 1886 and 1889. This medium-scale work depicts the Brooklyn waterfront, which had become a fashionable tourist destination during this period.  However, the composition focuses on the sea, featuring only minimal evidence of the surrounding docks and only a small segment of sky.  Executed rapidly in thin washes of grey and blue with a few thoughtfully placed brushstrokes, the result is a sketch-like finish. Sailboats lie at anchor to provide a horizontal counterpoint to the composition’s narrow verticality, recalling a process used in the Japanese prints that Chase admired and collected. While most of Chase’s coastline paintings are small, wooden panels painted out-of-doors, this work is distinctive for its larger size and vertical format.

  The simple composition, original cropping, and monochromatic palette of somber tones characterize the painting, recalling the work of American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler, whom Chase met in London in 1885 and whom he greatly respected. Indeed, this picture shares with Whistler’s contemporary seascapes—called ‘Notes’—a concern for tonal harmony, soft brushwork, and decorative composition, inspired by Japanese prints. These same interests are visible in Whistler’s A Freshening Breeze (TF 1992.152) and The Sea, Pourville (TF 1992.158). Contrary to Whistler, Chase focused on American locations, including Brooklyn and Coney Island, perhaps as a response to critics calling for uniquely American subjects. Emphasizing the decorative effect, this small painting is one of Chase’s early modern experiments of outdoor scenes.

William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886‒1890. Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York (organizer). Venues: Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, May 26‒August 13, 2000; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, September 7‒November 26, 2000; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas, December 13, 2000‒March 11, 2001. [exh. cat.]

The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context (L’atelier de la Nature, 1860-1910. Invitation à la Terra Collection). Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny (organizers). Venue: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, France, September 12, 2020–January 3, 2021. [exh. cat. in French]

Gallati, Barbara Dayer. William Merritt Chase: Modern American Landscapes, 1886-1890. (exh. cat. Brooklyn Museum of Art). Brooklyn, New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 2000. Ill. pl. 31, p. 98.

Pisano, Ronald G. William Merritt Chase: Landscapes in Oil, vol. 3. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Text p. 158; Ill. L.333.

 Bourguignon, Katherine and Valerie Reis. The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context. (exh. cat, Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny). Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2020.  Text p. 108; Pl. 48, p.114 (color).