The Tenth Street Studio 1915

William Merritt Chase made "The Tenth Street Studio" with oil on canvas, and just look at the way the brushstrokes dance across the surface! I can almost feel the artist in the act of painting. Can't you? There’s such an immediacy, as if Chase were trying to capture the fleeting moment of a lived experience. I imagine Chase surrounded by his world, looking around his studio, and thinking: what shall I paint? The objects, the light, the people - a snapshot of his everyday life. I wonder if he ever struggled like I do sometimes, questioning every stroke, but ultimately trusting the process. The textures, the colors... they speak of someone deeply engaged with the physicality of paint. There’s a lovely nonchalance to the composition, with those subtle suggestions of form emerging from the brushstrokes. It feels like a conversation, with the artist riffing on impressions of Manet and Whistler, while finding his own voice and showing the world how he sees it. Because that's what painting is, isn't it? A continuous dialogue across time.