George Bellows - Portrait of Chester Dale (1922)

Chester Dale (May 3, 1883 – December 16, 1962) was an American banker and

patron of the arts Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

. Dale earned large sums from working for the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

, allowing him to collect 19th and 20th-century French paintings. Although he considered establishing a private museum, he donated a part of his collection to the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1941. The rest of his collection was bequeathed to the National Gallery upon his death., page 373; and National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), pages 40-41.

Career

Dale was born in 1883, and started his financial career at the age of fifteen, as a

runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

for the

. In time, he acquired assets that included utilities, railroads, and municipal bonds in the US and Canada. When the National Gallery of Art opened, Dale lent the gallery 22 American pictures, and within a few months, two rooms of French

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

paintings were established. Upon the request of painter

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

, Dale agreed to sit for an oil on canvas painting in 1922, depicting Dale holding a golf club. Both Dale and Bellows were semi-professional athletes in their younger years. In 1962, the long-term loans of major artists who worked in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century were left to the gallery at the bequest of Dale. Included in the works that Dale bequeathed to the gallery were works by

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

,'' Portrait of Louis Guillaume'' (1882)

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Personal life

At the age of 27, he married Maud Murray, a painter and critic, who introduced him to the idea of collecting modern art.

Legacy

The National Gallery of Art obtained 88 paintings from Dale's personal residence, an apartment in the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...

in New York, upon his death. The paintings were added to his 152 items already on loan to the National Gallery of Art. There were 6 new galleries established on the main floor to house the additional acquisitions. The bequest included 240 paintings, 7 sculptures, 22 graphics, over 1200 sales catalogs, and more than 1500 books. Additionally as part of the bequest, there were 3 fellowships established with a $500,000 endowment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Chester 1883 births 1962 deaths American bankers American philanthropists National Gallery of Art American art collectors People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art American art patrons