William Merritt Chase

(American, 1849-1916)

A Road to the Sea (Shinnecock Bay), c. 1902

oil on canvas

signed Wm. M. Chase (lower left)

12 1/4 x 18 inches.

Property from the Collection of Richard D. Simmons, Alexandria, Virginia

Provenance:

Estate of the Artist

Sold: American Art Galleries, New York, William Merritt Chase Sale, May 14 - 16, 1917, Lot 357 (as A Road to the Sea)

M.H. Marlin, New Haven, Connecticut, acquired at the above sale

Sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 23, 1974, Lot 32 (as Shinnecock Bay)

Private Collection, Binghamton, New York, 1974-77, acquired at the above sale

Spanierman Gallery, New York, 1977

R.H. Love Galleries, Chicago

Geist Collection, Chicago

Private Collection, New England, 1989-1995

Hollis Taggart Gallery, Washington, DC

Acquired from the above by the present owner, November 9, 1995

Exhibited:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, McClees Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings: The Works of Mr. William M. Chase, March 1905, no. 7 (as A Road to the Sea)

Boston, Vose Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings: The Latest Works of William M. Chase, December 1909, no. 7 (as A Road to the Sea)

Huntington, New York, Heckscher Museum, The Students of William Merritt Chase/Shinnecock Group, September 28 - November 11, 1973 (also traveled to the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, November 18 - December 30, 1973), p. 24, no. 48

Mobile, Alabama, The Fine Arts Museum of the South at Mobile, The Ripening of American Art: Duveneck & Chase, October 18 - November 25, 1979, pp. 51; 61, no. 35, illus.

Greenvale, New York, Long Island University, C.W. Post Art Gallery, A Century of American Impressionism, January 30 - February 28, 1982 (as Shinnecock Bay), illus.

Southampton, New York, Tripoli Gallery, Water, August 15 - September 9, 2013

Literature:

Wilbur Peat, "Checklist of Known Work by William M. Chase," addendum to exh. cat., Chase Centennial Exhibition, John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1949 (as A Road to the Sea)

Ronald G. Pisano, William Merritt Chase: Landscapes in Oil, New Haven, Connecticut, 2010, vol. 3, p. 133, no. L.276, illus.

Lot note:

Executed in 1902, A Road to the Sea (Shinnecock Bay) is one of many depictions William Merritt Chase made of the sand roads of the Long Island region. In 1890, the artist was invited to Shinnecock by Mrs. William S. Hoyt, an amateur painter and early resident of the area intent on establishing a summer art school. The clear skies, shifting light, and soft air of the surrounding landscape convinced Chase to launch the Shinnecock Summer School of Art in 1891. He and his family would continue to spend summers in Shinnecock for the next 25 years, even after Chase retired from teaching classes in 1902. A popular teacher, Chase’s school was well-attended, with students including Joseph Stella, Charles Hawthorne, and Rockwell Kent. As he only taught classes two days a week, Chase had copious free time for his own painting, which he did predominantly outdoors and directly from nature, without preparatory sketches or drawings: “I carry a comfortable stool that can be closed up in a small space, and I never use an umbrella,” he remarked. “I want all the light I can get. When I have found the spot I like, I set up my easel, and paint the picture on the spot. I think that is the only way rightly to interpret nature” (as quoted in D. Scott Atkinson and Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., William Merritt Chase: Summers at Shinnecock 1891-1902, Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 18)

The present work effortlessly captures a Long Island summer day and the artist’s en plein air style at its best. Chase uses a horizontal format divided between two nearly equal registers of sky and scrub-covered dunes. The curving road invites the viewer into the scene and emphasizes the expansive, gently rolling vista that dips toward the sea. Two bristling bushes punctuate the foreground, with the dash of a bright red roof in the distance centered between them, adding depth and texture to the spontaneously depicted scene. Chase was especially fascinated with the movement of clouds over Shinnecock. Bravura brushstrokes describe the rushing cirrus and cumulus clouds in the windswept sky, rendered in soft grays, blues, and purples. Chase’s commitment to documenting the environment exactly as it was experienced was perhaps best summarized by Rockwell Kent, who observed: “[Chase] went to nature, stood before nature and painted it as his eyes beheld it.” (It's Me O Lord, New York, 1955, p. 76)

Chase retained A Road to the Sea (Shinnecock Bay) throughout his life and it was included in his 1917 estate sale. In the auction catalogue, the painting was described: “The real road to the sea is out through the gray-blue bay of the distance, but leading to it is a winding, sandy road, passing from the foreground around hillocks and bushes, through the wiry seashore grass, in the Peconic region of Long Island. Bits of color at the edge of the grass line in the middle distance, and the top of a sail, indicate the presence of people at the beach. Grayish, windy sky.” (The Paintings and Other Artistic Property Left by the Late William Merritt Chase, N.A., New York, 1917, n.p.) The painting was purchased by a “M.H. Marlin,” likely Mahlon Harry Marlin (1864-1949) of New Haven, Connecticut. Mahlon’s family owned the Marlin Firearms Company, a successful rifle manufactory that rivaled the Winchester brand. Marlin rifles were used by Annie Oakley and “Buffalo Bill” Cody in their Wild West Shows. Marlin had a significant interest in landscape painting and after retiring, created his own landscapes for the next 34 years.

American & European Art

A Road to the Sea (Shinnecock Bay), c. 1902

American & European Art

A Road to the Sea (Shinnecock Bay), c. 1902

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