WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE (1849-1916)

Ronald Pisano writes, "In Autumn, Chase combines quick, vibrant brushstrokes (the vegetation in the foreground of the composition) with elegant, more deliberate brushwork (the green grass in the background). The viewer's eye is drawn from the grass to the jewel-like blue water and, beyond, to a vast cloud-strewn sky... Katherine Metcalf Roof writes of this work: 'One very small canvas in the exhibition [National Arts Club, 1910], called Autumn, characteristic of Chase's landscape manner, has a subdued harmony of russets, reds and browns. All the quality of space of a large canvas lies in its small compass, and it is a beautiful example of the manner in which he reveals the many colors of the moors, yet always quietly, so that no color starts out to affront the eye any more than it does in nature.'" (William Merritt Chase: Landscapes in Oil, vol. III, New Haven, Connecticut, 2009, pp. 110-11)