Artwork Title: An Artist’s Wife

An Artist’s Wife, 1892

William Merritt Chase

An Artist’s Wife catches her studying one of her husband’s paintings. Alice appears in a Dutch costume, turning to look over the back of her chair. The conceit recalls 17th-century portraits by Frans Hals, although Hals most often used it for depictions of men. [http://arthistorynewsreport.blogspot.nl/2016/11/william-merritt-chase.html] An Artist’s Wife is another witty exploration of the activity of art making and art appreciation. Alice sits in front of a painting and turns her head to the viewer as if suddenly disrupted from her absorptive observation of the work behind her. That work shows Alice in a landscape, playing with the theme of the picture within the picture by adding the same person in both. According to Nicolai Cikovsky, Chase was consciously trying to annul the boundaries between painting and the real world by challenging the distinction between art and actuality. [http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/spring17/rosillo-reviews-william-merritt-chase-a-modern-master]
Uploaded on Feb 16, 2018 by Suzan Hamer

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