1953.41
Portrait of the Art Dealer, Otto Fleischman
Artist
William Merritt Chase
(Williamsburg, Indiana, 1849 - 1916, New York City, New York)
Title
Portrait of the Art Dealer, Otto Fleischman
Creation Date
ca. 1870-1879
Century
19th century
Dimensions
26 1/2 in. x 21 1/2 in. (67.31 cm x 54.61 cm)
Object Type
painting
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
oil on canvas
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Max Hirshler
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1953.41
The first American artists to profit from European training were based in Munich, Germany, where the curriculum stressed a realist approach to painting. At the Royal Academy there,students like William Merritt Chase were encouraged to imitate the paintings of seventeenth-century Dutch masters, notably Rembrandt and Frans Hals. This portrait of the Munich art dealer Otto Fleischman exhibits the low-toned palette, striking contrasts, and rugged brushwork characteristic of this school of painting. While American critics saw no beauty in Chase’s early work, they praised the facility and swiftness of execution that imbued his canvases with “élan.” They complained repeatedly, however, that the artist’s technical bravura—manifest in the treatment of Fleischman’s face—obviated feeling for his subjects. Compared to the anatomically grounded work of Paris students, the Munich artists’ emphasis on brushwork led to repeated charges of superficiality.