Although at first glance this scene seems to capture a fleeting moment of casual backyard relaxation, on closer examination it more strongly resembles a carefully arranged still life painting. William Merritt Chase poses
his young sister in a prominent, 17th-century Dutch-style black hat—possibly as a pun on her name, Hattie. His wife sits at the breakfast table, wearing a Chinese cap, the couple’s infant daughter beside her. Chase’s
sister-in-law lounges in a hammock, while one of Chase’s beloved Russian wolfhounds naps by the fence. Objects are strategically placed throughout the yard—Chase’s own, in a fashionable section of Brooklyn—adding to
the harmonious domestic atmosphere.
The Japanese screen, potted tropical plant, Dutch hat, and Chinese cap reflect Chase’s sophisticated tastes. His studio on Tenth Street in Manhattan was famously filled with such exotic objects and costumes, which often
turned up in his Impressionist-inspired paintings.
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Capturing a moment of domestic pleasure in the leisure life of a contented family, The Open Air Breakfast depicts members of the artist William Merrit Chase's family, his favorite models for many pictures. His wife is
seated at the table next to their oldest child, Alice, in the high chair. Chase's sister, Hattie, stands behind them wearing a seventeenth-century-Dutch-style hat and holding a paddle used in battledore, an early form
of badminton. Chase's sister-in-law, Virginia Gerson, lounges in a hammock while one of his favorite Russian wolfhounds naps by the fence. The scene is set in the Chases' backyard in a fashionable section of Brooklyn,
the neighborhood where the family had moved in 1886, and which Chase had begun to paint in a series of pictures that combined spirited brushwork with a fondness for painting outdoors.
Although the figures seem to be the focal point of the painting, they are really just part of the decorative array of unrelated objects Chase assembled to create a pleasing effect. Stylishly dressed in shades of white,
the women are sheltered from the outside world by a high wooden fence and lush summer vegetation. The variety of accessories—a Japanese screen, a Spanish shawl, a Dutch hat, oriental porcelains, and a potted palm—exemplifies
Chase's well-known taste for exotic objects (many of which decorated his famous Tenth Street studio in Manhattan) as well as his role as a fashion setter and cosmopolitan artist.
This appealing presentation of an idyllic backyard repast not only celebrates Chase's own private domain, but also by its technical virtuosity and bravura brushwork reveals his sheer joy of painting.
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