Beautiful Connections

Penelope Unraveling her Work by Dora Wheeler, 1886, textile.

Wheeler and her mother ran an interior design firm and Dora Wheeler did some original textiles for the firm. This piece is featured in the Connections/Poetry by Jennette Mullaney.

The Cleveland Museum of Art also has a wonderful portrait of Dora Wheeler, which features a textile (with fighting cats) behind her done painted by her teacher William Merritt Chase.

Portrait of Dora Wheeler by William Merritt Chase, 1882-83, The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Resting

Flower Market, Tokyo by Robert Frederick Blum, c. 1892.

Blum was born in Cincinnati where he worked for a lithographer before he began to take classes in drawing. He had a strong interest in all things Japanese as did many other artists at the time such as Whistler and Monet. Blum's preferred medium was pastels and he and W.M. Chase founded the Society of Painters in Pastel in New York.

Following Fashions

Spring Flowers, c. 1889 by William Merritt Chase.

Chase considered himself an observer of life and which was a French method he applied to American landscapes and settings. This work also refers to the fashion of Japanese styles adapted in American households.

Dapples of Sunlight

Sunlight and Shadow, 1884 by William Merrit Chase, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE

This work by another American artist who studied and had great success in Europe as well as in the US, was originally entitled The Tiff by the artist. That title gives us a little more insight into what is going on between the man and the woman peeking over the edge of the hammock.

Art Online During COVID

Miss Dora Wheeler, William Merritt Chase, 1882-83, The Cleveland Museum of Art.

This painting is one of the rel gems of the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. They have access to a large part of their collection and a lot of other interesting things to see and do on their website.

This work by William Merritt Chase is a particular favorite and features two fighting cats hidden in the background.

Before Social Distancing

Beach Scene by Martha Walter

Another in my on-going series of artists I discover on Pinterest.

Martha Walter (1875-1976) was a student of William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and later became a teacher at the New York School of Art, run by Chase. She developed her own loose style and preferred work in the Plein-Air technique.