Genre
WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE (1849–1916)
A Mother’s Joy, 1889
Oil on panel, 17 x 17 in.
Signed (at lower left): Wm. M. Chase
RECORDED: Ronald G. Pisano et al., William Merritt Chase: Portraits in Oil, Vol. 2 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), p. 84, OP. 164 // D. Frederick Baker, New York, to John Michael Alderson, Louisville, Kentucky, October 2, 2023, Hirschl & Adler Galleries archives
EXHIBITED: Society of American Artists, New York, May 13–June 15, 1889, Eleventh Annual Exhibition, no. 37 // Interstate Industrial Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, September 4–October 19, 1889, 17th Annual Exhibition // American Art Galleries, New York, opened April 17, 1890, Exhibition of Six Artists
EX COLL.: the artist; to sale, Fifth Avenue Galleries, New York, March 6, 1891, lot 64; Franklin J. Murphy (1846–1920), Newark, New Jersey; John Michael Alderson, Louisville, Kentucky
The Chases had eleven children, eight of whom survived. In addition to their sons, Robert Stewart and Roland Dana, they had six daughters: Alice Dieudonnée, Koto Robertine, Dorothy Brémond, Hazel Neamaug, Helen Velasquez and Mary Content––all of whom the artist adored and, according to an early biographer, “he painted almost from the moment of their birth” (Katharine Metcalf Roof, The Life and Art of William Merritt Chase [New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917], p. 254). Indeed, a dedicated family man whose domestic environment was one of “special harmony,” Chase loved to portray his wife and children in sunlit outdoor settings or quiet domestic spaces (Roof, p. 264). Such is the case with A Mother’s Joy––a formerly unlocated work that has resurfaced only recently––which depicts Alice with Koto Robertine (1889–1956), so-named after Chase’s close Japanese friend, Koto, and his friend and fellow artist, Robert Blum, who shared his interest in Japanese art and design.
Taking his cue from Japanese prints and the spontaneity of contemporary photography, Chase adheres to a closely cropped design which draws the viewer’s gaze to Alice and Koto, who looks up at her mother with outstretched arms as she, in turn, leans in towards her baby. The narrow stretch of curtain on the right suggests an adjacent window that casts a softly glowing light that illuminates the figures (highlighting the baby’s dress, in particular) and elements of the décor, especially the fireplace, with its fringed mantel scarf and assorted ornaments, including a Japanese doll. (In contrast to his portrayals of his Tenth Street studio––crowded and cluttered with all sorts of objects––the tidiness and cozy quality of the room represented in A Mother’s Joy suggests that the scene was painted at Chase’s Manhattan residence. The Chases moved frequently during these years, living briefly in the Tenth Street studio space following their marriage, after which they rented rooms on East Ninth Street, and then moved to Brooklyn. Following that, they lived in an old house on West Fourth Street in Greenwich Village, which is where this work may have been painted.
Chase’s fluent handling imbues the image with a sense of the fleeting moment, while his varied palette—wherein luscious greens, deep reds, and golds merge and mingle with areas of white and pink—attest to his move away from the dark tonal palette of his Munich period in favor of the coloristic strategies of Impressionism. The bright red accents that Chase favored are apparent here in the deep folds of Alice’s skirt, their presence creating lush surface textures in addition to enhancing the verve and sparkle of the composition.
