Tenth Street Studio

Tenth Street Studio documents one of the most famous artist studios in the United States at the end of the 19th century. In 1879, William Merritt Chase moved into a suite of rooms in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York, where he spent the next 17 years creating the ultimate Aesthetic interior. The large outer room seen here served as a showroom for Chase’s latest work, an exhibition space for his ever-expanding collection of curiosities, and subject or backdrop in a number of paintings.

Chase arranged his collection of decorative objects, bronzes, carved wooden chests, and faded tapestries with a studied informality typical of an Aesthetic interior—curated clutter. The elegant visitors admire the room’s artistic elements, and are at the same time objects of admiration for viewers of the painting.

<P>Chase began work on this painting in 1880, but returned to it over a 30-year span, painting over an easel at the far left, replacing it with a tea table and figure. The work was still in his collection at the time of his death.