October
Datec. 1902
MediumPastel on primed, lightweight canvas on Masonite
DimensionsCanvas: 16 7/8 × 23 3/16 inches (42.9 × 58.9 cm)
Framed: 22 3/4 × 29 inches (57.8 × 73.7 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase.
Object number1917.2
CopyrightThe images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextWilliam Merritt Chase was a critical figure in the development of impressionist painting in America. An influential art instructor as well as a practicing artist, he was an early proponent of painting outdoors, or en plein air, as the French impressionists did. This philosophy informed his teachings at the summer school he founded in Shinnecock Hills on the eastern end of Long Island, where October was created. This pastel depicts two tiny figures, possibly Chase’s daughters, against an expansive landscape that is flat and treeless, with scruffy patches of sea grass and small blue pools of water.Subject MatterShinnecock, Long Island, New York, United States of America