Edward Leigh Chase (1884–1965) was an American painter and illustrator, and an early member of the Byrdcliffe experiment which gave rise to the

artists' colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of Artist, artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior exi ...

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 20 ...

. A gifted sketch artist and

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

ist, he was one of the group of young

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

humorists who called themselves the

Fakirs Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce all ...

Life and work

Edward Leigh Chase was born in Elkhart Lake,

Sheboygan County, Wisconsin Sheboygan County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is named after the Sheboygan River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 118,034. Its county seat is Sheboygan. The county was created in 1836 and organized in 1846. At t ...

, the third child of Grace (née Metcalfe) and chemist Charles Denison Chase. His family moved to St Louis, Missouri, in 1885, when he was an infant, and he grew up attending public schools there. Shunning regular

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

, he traveled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to study

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

at the Art Students League. Among his

professors Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

there was the painter

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design. ...

. Edward Leigh Chase – "Ned" to those who knew him – showed particular promise in his use of

pen and ink A pen is a common writing tool, writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a Nib (pen), nib or in a sm ...

, and he soon turned his talent and wit to humor. For fun and valuable practice, a group of irreverent

pupil The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the Iris (anatomy), iris of the Human eye, eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing ...

s at the league in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

created

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

illustrations mocking serious works of leading artists, among them their own professors, William Merritt Chase included. The students who participated in such

lampoon Lampoon may refer to: *Parody *Amphol Lampoon (born 1963), Thai actor and singer *''The Harvard Lampoon'', a noted humor magazine ** ''National Lampoon'' (magazine), a defunct offshoot of ''Harvard Lampoon'' ***National Lampoon, Incorporated, a 20 ...

ing called themselves the Society of American Fakirs,

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

on the fact that the faux masterpieces they produced were fakes. The name implied as well that they fancied themselves

magicians Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

of a sort. With a wave of a

pen A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

paintbrush A paintbrush is a brush used to apply paint or ink. A paintbrush is usually made by clamping bristles to a handle with a ferrule. They are available in various sizes, shapes, and materials. Thicker ones are used for filling in, and thinner on ...

, they could transform "legitimate" art into laughing stock. Among the Fakirs were

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

James Montgomery Flagg James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist, comics artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters, particularly his 1 ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to eac ...

Yasuo Kuniyoshi was a Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker. Biography Kuniyoshi was born on September 1, 1889 in Okayama, Japan. He immigrated to the United States in 1906, choosing not to attend military school in Japan. Kuniyoshi original ...

, and Ned Chase's younger brother, Frank Swift Chase. Graduating from the Art Students League, the Chase brothers headed upstate to the Catskill Mountains to join in an experimental

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of a style, organized by

Ralph Whitehead Ralph Whitehead (16 October 1883 – 23 August 1956) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Lancashire from 1908 to 1914. He appeared in 108 first-class matches as a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium fast. He ...

in Woodstock, New York. Building their own

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

studios A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

in the woods outside the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

proper, they studied and worked together in what they saw as an artists'

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

, named Byrdcliffe. Ned Chase honed his skills in sketching and watercolor, and emerged a successful illustrator, albeit not of the caliber of his brother, Frank, who became a landscape painter of national renown. Later in life, Ned Chase painted fine

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

of a classical style which he might have roundly excoriated as a "Fakir" in his

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

. Edward Leigh Chase died in Woodstock in 1965, and is buried with other family members in the Artists' Cemetery there. He was married to Mabel Penrose (Tinsley), the daughter of Edward Tinsley and Laura Penrose Thornton. His grandson is the

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, and comedian

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

Sources

*''Catalog of the Society of American Fakirs''. Tenth Exhibition (New York: The Society of American Fakirs, 1901).
"Art: Fakirs Resurrected"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'', May 9, 1932. *''Parodies of the American Masters: Rediscovering the Society of American Fakirs, 1891-1914'' (New York: Art Students League, 1993). *Raymond J. Steiner. ''The Art Students League of New York: A History'' (

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 C ...

: CSS Publications, Inc., 1999). * Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley and Son Collection. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Edward Leigh 1884 births 1965 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Art Students League of New York alumni American contemporary painters People from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin People from the Catskills American realist painters People from Woodstock, New York 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists