Show HOW CHASE ATTAINED SUCCESS Famous Artist Tells the Story of His Stru ggl P v s His First Successful Picture > I From Fifteenth street facing Livingston i Living-ston place there is one of the pret tLpt views xin all New York To the north are the red brick buildings of the Religious Society of Friends and beyond the old stone Church of St George In an imposing oldstyle house commanding this vIew lives the famous j artist William M Chase and in his drawingroom I talked with him the other day regarding his early struggles I and his first successful picture I The walls of the parlors are hung with many of the paintings which i made Mr Chases working rooms in i I the old Studio building in Tenth street the show place of New York for nearly twenty years There is the j portrait of Carroll Beckwith the Lady i in White and beautiful Mrs Chase i watching her children at play in the i broad hall of the summer house in the Shlnnecock hills Whatever success I may have attained i at-tained said Mr Chase comes from j my love of art for arts sake only I j always wanted to be an artist and I i came to be one this way My father j I owned a general stove in Williams t burg Ind You know what a general i stor is TTi > kemt AVArvthiTif nnrl fjnlrl 0 to farmers and village people I SOLD WOMENS SHOES When I was about 16 he went up to I Indianapolis and started the largest shoe store in that city One part of it I i was separated from the rest and devoted de-voted to ladies It was carpeted It i was the first ladies shoe store in the j I west One day my father came to me and said William you have spoiled I wrapping paper enough here Put on your hat and come with me Im going I to take you up to Hays On our way to the artists rooms he explained to me regretfully how sorry he felt that his endeavors to make a business man of me had failed that he hadnt much hope or faith in mJi art predilections hut was willirg to give me a chance and he thought that a studio was a better place for Lthat chance than a shoe store and I thus I began my studieswith B F Hays the artist in his studio next to the old posfoffice SET TO COPY ENGRAVINGS Mi Hays set me to work copying things which were of no earthly advantage ad-vantage to me as an art student For I instance he had me copy in oil a steel engraving of one of Rosa Bonheurs I pictures After I had been with him for a year or so however he did dome do-me a genuine service He advised my I father to send me to New York I came to this city with several letters I let-ters of introduction to wholesale shoe dealers who were requested to keep a kindly watch over me and another letter to the late J O Eaton a western west-ern artist who had attained considerable consider-able reputation in the metropolis I went into Mr Eatons studio and upon his advice I entered the National Academy Acad-emy of Design When I was 20 years I old my father failed in business He might have taken advantage of the bankruptcy law and saved respectable respecta-ble fortune but it was an honest failure fail-ure He regretted very much that he could not continue supporting me and he wondered what use I could make of my art training I didnt know exactly exact-ly what to do BETWEEN ART AND SHQES I gave the matter considerable thought I had had one years experience ex-perience in the shoe business and I had learned how to sell a lady a pair of shoes two sizes too small for her 1 was very successful in that and I had made up my mind that if it cameo came-o the worst I would go into a shoe store as a cleric But fortunately I didnt have to I laid the matter before be-fore Mr Eaton and he advised me to paint flowers and fruits in which Hue of work I had been moderately successful suc-cessful Through his influence was able to sell some of these There area are-a number of them now up around I Yonkers which I would like to recall I I was so successful that by Christmas i I had saved up enough money to go to St Louis where my father had reestablished re-established himself in business and I decided after looking over the field to open a studio in that city Now in every large city that I hae ever been in there are one or more men who feel a personal interest in art They are natural art patrons I met two such men in St Louis One j I of them was named Hodges and the I other was Samuel Dodd They were both very wealthy One day I overheard over-heard them talking in my studio about me What do you think we had better do said Mr Hodges Send him abroad answered Mr DoddWell get commissions for him to I i I be executed on the other side and we I will have the money advanced to him for his studies When this plan was laid before me I very willingly save up my studio and went to Munich whore I entered the academy of which the great Pilot was the director I took wlVh me several hundred dollars and I filled evfiry commission I com-mission arcprdinjj to promise The mostoxpelisfve commission was of Dr iL Col ono pf 1 ii > I > OKT Irirtvn colS col-S C tI i J t I lectors in the west le had advanced t I sio The picture I painted for him is i I i now in the Widener collection In Philadelphia Phil-adelphia If I had todo it bver again I1 I would not do it for ten tiinea that much 1 After entering the academy I had I a pretty hard time of it I foresaw I that my money would be spent long i i before I had acquired the requisite training and try as hard as I might j I I could not sell my work to the local dealers I had been more or less of a revolutionist In the school I had objected ob-jected to painting pictures to order apd it was not the way of the master DOWN TO BREAD AND CHEESE At last I got down to bread and cheese Even my canvas and my paints were supplied by my fellow students stu-dents I had been in Munich two years and a half I had worked hard and conscientiously I htd been unable to sell anything I Jiad received It is true the highest medal given by the academy acad-emy in each class but I had been severely se-verely criticised by the teachers for my independence and the dealers would have nothing to do with me I know what despair means r The artist rose to his feet walked across the room and lucked out of the window where the malj was bringing I home his child from their morning walk f FIRST SUCCESSFUL PICTURE II It was the turning cojnt in my life I dont know how much longer1 could I have kept up the struggle I was fortunate for-tunate in having secured quarters with some people who had confidence in me sufficient confidence to let me owe them two years rentbut I could not have held out very much longer and I knew it It was then that I painted my first successful picture It came about this way painted a study of I a woman in black dressed in a riding habit It now hangs in the reception I room of the Union League club in I this city I sold it for S300 It was I bought by S P Avery and now belongs I to the club It was not the money that I I get this from picture though that brought me success because I did not sail it until several months afterward I took the canvas to Pilot and asked him what he thought of it He looked at it aud then he said Mr Chase I want you to paint the portraits of my children I will advance you onehalf of I the price before you begin work Within a day everybody in Munich art circles knew that the great painter had commissioned me to paint the portraits cf his children My reputation reputa-tion was made The dealers who refused to notice me crowded my studio and asked for paintings studies anything that I had Tho seal of approval had been set by the highest authority of hisday I had money Pilotis money and I was independent so I told these dealers No to go away to let me alone that would have nothing to do with them I paid my rent I walked on air The whole world looked bright There was sunlight everywhere STORY OF EXCHANGE I wont tell you howIfainted these = portraits or what has become of them for that has nothing to do with the matter we are talking about A curious sequel however to this little siege of the Bavarian art dealers came to pass only last month Let me tell you about It One of the dealers had in his store a portrait of a girl smoking a pipe by Wilhelm Leibl even at that time a famous painter I enjoyed studying this picture more than almost any other in Munich and it occurred to me that solon so-lon as my work was in demand I would exchange some of my pictures for it so that I could study it at my leisure in my own studio I gave three studies of heads in exchange for it Xow at the Stuart art sale last year one of Leibls pictures sold for 15000 About a month ago the art dealer who arranged the trade in Munich more than twenty years ago wrote to me asking whether I still had this picture and if so whether I would sell IL I replied that I had it and did not car to dispose of it In answer to this I received a letter asking me to put my own price upon the canvas This was a different matter So I wrote to my old time friends telling them that if they would send their agent to me with 2000 I would part with the picture never thinking that my offer would be accepted But they cabled their acceptance ac-ceptance and theyve got the picture now and I dont know whether tQ be sorry or dad How did Piloti happen to ask you to paint his childrens portraits I thought you said he was a severe critic of yours I suggested MADE COLUMBUS TURN It wa not wholly my study of the Woman in Black as I afterwards I learned l because although tne great I painter was a very harsh critic he had a rather high idea of my ability which I I possibly did not deserve Ill give you an illustration I told you hew I resented the method of manufacturing pictures employed in the academy of my desire for independence and all that This happened a month or so before I be-fore I received my commission I had all the sensitive independence that goes with unrecognized ability and grinding poverty I resented almost everything That was my mood One day the master mas-ter said to me that he wanted competitive compet-itive compositions from the pupils and he had selected the subject of Columbus Colum-bus Before the Council because there were a number of Americans in the academy Now I knew how Plioti wanted those compositions To be made I knew where he would place Columbus Colum-bus and where he would put the raem bers of the council but I determined that if I were compelled to paint it I would follow my own ideas Two days before the time for submitting the compositions com-positions arrived scme of my fellow pupils pu-pils asked me what I was doing with Columbus I told them nothing Youd better do something said one of them The chief expects something very important im-portant from you I laughed They insisted and more as a joke than anything any-thing else I laid out my composition I said to one of the young men There Is no authorized portrait of Columbus Is there No one knew of any So 1 I continued Ill paint the back of the discoverer and I wont put him in one i corner of the picture but in the center I cen-ter And so I did I made him face the council in a position that I knew II would not entirely please the chief The mere I worked at the thing the mere interested I became and before I I had been painting an hour I was en grcssed in it After I had finished it I laid it one side and thought no more I about it But I finally entered it with the other compositions To my intense I surprise it received the medal As soon as the award was announced Pilotf I came to me indignation written in eer line of his face Its an outrage he said I dont understand how the committee came to give you that medal you dont deserve it The idea of making so bad a use of so great a subject Now this is what you want to do Put Columbus oV ron r-on one pde paint a side view cf him Do it this way and he illustrated with his expressive gestures how the figure I was to be drawn Now dont paint on your little canvas Ill give you r a I studio that three men have now Ill turn them all out You can have it by yourself There well put a convas thirty feet wide and I want you to paint this picture this way In one Into in-to years you will have produced a painting If you have any influence with your govevnmqat it will be in Washington It will be Jnkthecaptol lIt lIt l-It will make you tamous j or course I was pleased T was more f 4l was touched But J didnlt isre money ennnsrK to work one or tvo I i i I r r years or even one or two months longer and I toldjhim so frankly 4 Y > u dont needimoriey said Piloti the academy the government will pay your expenses wIll llire your studio give you your paints buy you your canvas engage yu YOUr model 1 I 1 thanked him but I Vent back tom to-m studio and resumed my single canvases can-vases > nd tried to reach the hearts of the Munich are dealers This will shOW you haw the masterregarded me even before I had submitted the picture that gave me my first successful order While I was painting the portraits of the children Piloti asked me how I was getting along with my Columbus picture I had not begun it I never had any intention of beginning It and I didnt know exactly what to say to him Suddenly an Inspiration came tome to-me Do you think He r Director said I that Munich is the place to paint 1 f i ii I ii The WomSn In Slack William I < L Chases F rst Successful Painting this picture in Isnt Salamanca a better bet-ter Dlace Z Quite right returned the master Of course Come to think of it your models here are all Bavarians Yuu want Spaniards for models Wait ur til you go to Salamanca Do it theft That is the last I ever heard of rry Columbus composition But I have the original among my paintings in my studio now RULE FOR SUCCESS IN ART What is your rule for success in art I asked Years ago said Mr Chase as he led me to the front window and pointed point-ed to the trees in the park and the half withered grass I thought that nature na-ture was master Now I know differ ant Art transcends nature One must paint whrt is behind the eye of fe artist As I paint and I love to paint there is somebody standing by my shoulder who says to me Dont oamt that or paint that and I foov these directions I can almost see s I somebody It is conscience Dersonifi It speaks to me It directs me Everyday Every-day I paint whenever it is possible whether it be well done or badly den I saint if I have to scratch it out the next morning I work because I cant help working I love work And your best picture Mr Chase I suggested My best picture In my studio there is an empty canvas My best picture is sainted there Its in my mind I am always painting my best picture I am always at work on it If I only could paint the pictures I have in here and the artist touched his forehead I dont suppose though I that I ever shall My best picture is still unpainted and I hope the time will i never come when I snail look at mat I I canvas and say There is my best pie 1 I ture BENJAMIN NORTHROP j J |