William Merritt Chase: The Complete Catalogue of Known and Documented Work by William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), Vol. 2: Portraits in Oil
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
William Merritt Chase: The Complete Catalogue of Known and Documented Work by William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), Vol. 2: Portraits in Oil Details
About the Author Ronald G. Pisano was curator of the Heckscher Museum of Art and director of the Parrish Art Museum. At the time of his death in 2000, he was nearing completion of thirty years of research toward publishing the catalogue raisonné of Chase’s work. Carolyn K. Lane is an independent scholar. D. Frederick Baker is a director of the Pisano/Chase Catalogue Raisonné Project. Read more
Reviews
No doubt the book is intended for the use of those trained for or working in some aspect of the art world. I can speak only as a layman who, in retirement, turned to the collection, viewing and reading about art, in part, because it was completely different from my vocation. Nothing that is shown in New York City's museums, auction houses and galleries turned out to appeal to me quite as much as did portraits. So I did find this rather dry text interesting because so many of the pictures reflected an American masters portrayal of mostly American figures of the years just before and just after 1900. Of course, one misses not having yet more of the full page, deliciously colored pictures which highlight the volume. Many of the less sizable pictures yielded to the large magnifying glass with which I look at them, the black and white and very small ones, I generally passed over although with some the text was interesting. I say the text was dry, and so it would probably be for the average reader. I found much of it interesting because it pointed up relationships with Chase and figures in the American world of that period. For the average lay reader, I would recommend one of the biographies with good graphics; for the professional or more motivated layman, this is a real treat.
