Frank Swift Chase (12 March 1886 – 3 July 1959) was an American Post-Impressionist landscape painter and a founder of the Woodstock Artists Association in

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 ...

, the

art 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 artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

Nantucket, Massachusetts Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a Consolidated city-county, combined county/town government t ...

, and the Sarasota School of Art in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Education and training

Chase was born in

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, on 12 March 1886. The fourth child of Grace (née Metcalfe) and Charles Denison Chase, he attended public elementary school and

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in St Louis. Despite a

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

mind, he did not progress to

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 ...

, instead working as an assistant in his father's

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

at the

Aluminum Company of America Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

Bauxite, Arkansas Bauxite is a city in Saline County, Arkansas, United States. Located within Central Arkansas, the city is named for bauxite, the source ore for aluminum, which was found in abundant quantities in the area and became a source of aluminium refining. ...

. His father was an Alcoa

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

noted among the pioneers of experimentation with the use of nitroglycerin in

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

. In his early twenties 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 join his elder brother, Edward Leigh Chase, at the

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 ...

, and later followed him again to ASL's Art League School of Landscape Painting at Woodstock, where he studied under

L. Birge Harrison Lovell Birge Harrison (October 28, 1854, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1929) was an American genre and landscape painter, teacher, and writer. He was a prominent practitioner and advocate of Tonalism. Life Born in Philadelphia, Birge Harrison w ...

and

John F. Carlson John Fabian Carlson (May 5, 1875 – May 19, 1947) was a Swedish-born American Impressionist painter. Background John Fabian Carlson was born in Kolsebo in Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, in Småland, Sweden. The Carlson family immigra ...

in 1909. The Chase brothers, both gifted artists, were early members of the Woodstock artist's colony, whose participants worked and lived in hand-made Catskill Mountain cabins as part of

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 ...

's experiment with

utopian 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 society ...

living at Byrdcliffe, the

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 ...

settlement nestled in the slopes above the town.

Teacher and founder

A decade later, in 1919, Chase was one of the

founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

s of the Woodstock Artists' Association, along with

Andrew Dasburg Andrew Michael Dasburg (4 May 1887 – 13 August 1979) was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism". Biography Dasburg was born in 1887 in Paris. He emigrated from Germany to New York City wit ...

, Carl Eric Lindin,

Henry Lee McFee Henry Lee McFee (April 14, 1886 – March 19, 1953) was a pioneer American cubist painter and a prominent member of the Woodstock artists colony. Biography McFee was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1886. From 1902 to 1905, he attended Kemper Mi ...

, and his former teacher John Carlson. The following year he summered on

Nantucket Island Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

, where he established his first

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...

. From 1920 onward, Chase was the leading teacher of

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

there for three decades. Dubbed "the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Nantucket artists" by the Artists Association of Nantucket, he was largely responsible for the development of that

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

as a true art colony. Among Chase's most important legacies were his students, including many who became renowned painters themselves:

Elizabeth Saltonstall Elizabeth Saltonstall (born Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, July 26, 1900; died there May 10, 1990) was an American artist who used stone lithography and painting to depict the natural world, particularly that of her summer home of Nantucket. Sal ...

, Isabelle Hollister Tuttle, Ruth Haviland Sutton, Emily Hoffmeier and Anne Ramsdell Congdon. Chase encouraged open-air painting classes, weather permitting, otherwise utilizing

wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

cottages along the waterfront, reminiscent of his own tutelage back in the mountain shanties of Woodstock. He helped to establish and nurture the Nantucket Artists Association, along with other influential local artists like Pat Gardner, Sybil Goldsmith, Philip Burnham Hicken, Edgar Jenney, C. Robert Perrin and

Tony Sarg Anthony Frederick Sarg (April 21, 1880–March 7, 1942), known professionally as Tony Sarg, was a German American puppeteer and illustrator. He was described as "America's Puppet Master", and in his biography as the father of modern puppetry ...

. Although based 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 ...

, Woodstock and Nantucket, Chase traveled around the United States. He spent a two-year

stint A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic ''"Calidris"'' assemblage – often separated in ''Erolia'' – which in North America are known as peeps. They are scolopacid waders much similar in ecomorphology to the ...

in southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

during 1935 and 1936, painting the desert outside

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

. In 1940, he founded the

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

School of Art at

Longboat Key, Florida Longboat Key is a town in Manatee and Sarasota counties along the central west coast of the U.S. state of Florida, located on and coterminous with the barrier island of the same name. Longboat Key is south of Anna Maria Island, between Sarasot ...

, where he taught periodically through 1952. Back in Woodstock, he taught and helped to promote such future notables as

Harvey Fite Harvey Fite (December 25, 1903 – May 9, 1976)
. ...

Anton Refregier Anton Refregier (March 20, 1905 – October 10, 1979) was a painter and muralist active in Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project commissions, and in teaching art. He was a Russian immigrant to the United States. Among his best-kn ...

and Marko Vukovic.

Death

Chase died at the Benedictine Hospital in

Kingston, New York Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

, on 3 July 1958. He is buried among other family members in the Artists Cemetery in Woodstock.

Legacy

Chase's paintings are heirs of the Northern Romantic tradition. Clearly influenced in his youth by

American Impressionism American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose ...

and Post-Impressionism, he became more faithful to nature as his

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

matured, many of his later landscapes evoking a spiritual kinship with earlier

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

masters like

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not ...

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...

and Frederic Edwin Church. His brother Edward Leigh Chase is the paternal grandfather of the actor

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 ...

Exhibitions

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

, 1918–1923 *

Corcoran Gallery The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...

, 1919–1923; Newport Artists Association, 1920 and 1924 (first prize) * Salmagundi Art Club, 1921;

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

, 1921 * Art Institute of Chicago, 1922 (prize) *

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York. It was established in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman. It offers Bachelor of Music ...

, 1922; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery (New York), 1922; Philadelphia Arts Council, 1922 *

Minneapolis Institute of Arts The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United Stat ...

, 1922; Herron Art Institute, 1922; Indiana Artists Association, 1923; Carnegie Institute, 1923; Peabody Art Gallery,

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, 1923 *

Art Directors Club The Art Directors Club of New York is an organization for art directors in New York City. It was founded in 1920, and has grown as an industry group, promoting art directors' work through exhibitions and awards, including the annual DESI award for ...

, 1924 (medal); San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, 1928 *Woodstock Artists Association; Springfield Artists Association; Kenneth Taylor Galleries, Nantucket *1953; Artists Association of Nantucket, 1954.

Associations

*Member: Allied Artists Association, 1913 * Springfield Artists Association (Illinois) *

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

Academy of Fine Arts, 1922 *Woodstock Artists Association, 1919 *Artists Association of Nantucket, 1945-1954.

Sources

*Woodstock Artists Association, permanent archives. *Nantucket Historical Association, archives. *''A Genealogy of David Latham Stevens and Richard Chase Stevens, (Volume IV)'', by D.L. Stevens. *The Nantucket ''Inquirer and Mirror''
"Grounded at Sea Level: Frank Swift Chase on Nantucket"
by Robert Frazier *Artists Association of Nantucket, permanent archives.

References

External links

"Grounded at Sea Level: Frank Swift Chase on Nantucket"
by Robert Frazier {{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Frank Swift 1886 births 1958 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Artists from Florida Artists from Massachusetts Art Students League of New York alumni American contemporary painters Artists from St. Louis People from the Catskills American realist painters People from Woodstock, New York 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists