In 1891, William Merritt Chase was invited to teach the skills of painting en plein air in the east of Long Island, New York. The following year he moved his family from New York City to live in their new house in Shinnecock for the summer, as he taught hundreds of students locally. This is part of his own painted record of the twelve consecutive summers he taught there, and follows on from the first that covered the years 1891-95.

Near the Beach, Shinnecock shows the undeveloped land between the Chase house and Shinnecock Bay in about 1895.

Shinnecock Hills shows one of the better tracks running inland, painted one summer between 1893-1897.

Shinnecock Hills is another track in about 1895, at the height of the summer.

Shinnecock Hills, Long Island from about 1895 shows two of the Chase family foraging for berries in the wild shrubs near their house.

Shinnecock Landscape with Figures is another view of foraging fruit in 1895.

Chase’s undated Sunlight and Shadow, Shinnecock Hills looks west along Shinnecock Bay towards West Hampton.

Landscape: Shinnecock, Long Island is a similar view from about 1896, this time with members of his family.

Morning at Breakwater, Shinnecock returns to the beach in Shinnecock Bay in about 1897, this time looking to the east.

Afternoon Shadows, also from about 1897, shows a location further from their home, with more substantial trees and a farm.

Seaside Flowers shows the Chase family picking summer flowers in about 1897.

First Touch of Autumn looks west as fall colours are starting in about 1898.

Chase’s students made many of their own paintings, most of which have now become obscure or lost. One exception is an early landscape by Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922).

Shinnecock (1906) shows Chase’s unmistakeable influence, and was perhaps painted when Onderdonk was a guest of the Chase family at Shinnecock that year. Onderdonk went on to great success painting bluebonnets in Texas until he died tragically early in 1922, only six years after his teacher.

In the twelve consecutive summers that William Merritt Chase taught plein air painting in Shinnecock, he trained and inspired a whole generation of artists.

References

Hirshler EE (2016) William Merritt Chase, Museum of Fine Arts Boston. ISBN 978 0 87846 839 3.
Longwell AG (2014) William Merritt Chase, A Life in Art, Parrish Art Museum and D Giles. ISBN 978 1 907804 43 4.
Smithgall E et al. (2016) William Merritt Chase, A Modern Master, The Phillips Collection and Yale UP. ISBN 978 0 300 20626 5.