The Chase Homestead at Shinnecock 1893

William Merritt Chase painted “The Chase Homestead at Shinnecock” with oil on canvas, and it gives us a glimpse into the late 19th-century American art scene. Chase founded the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art on Long Island in 1891, against a backdrop of increasing wealth and leisure among the upper classes. The school became an important institutional hub, helping to shape American Impressionism and promoted a vision of art tied to ideas of beauty and refinement. Here, we see the artist’s own home, bathed in golden light, evoking a sense of tranquility, harmony and belonging. Chase’s loose brushwork captures the effects of light and atmosphere, inviting the viewer to experience the scene as a moment of pure, sensory pleasure. Yet, this idyllic vision also reflects the social and economic realities of the time, including issues around land ownership. By exploring period documents, we can better understand how Chase's art school fit into the culture of its time. Art isn’t made in a vacuum. It always reflects the social and institutional forces that shape its creation.