  About the Artwork
  
  
  William Merritt Chase cultivated a reputation as a stylish dandy. His impeccable garb cut a wide swath in the paint-spattered artist studios he frequented in New York. Georgia O’Keeffe recalled about her days as Chase’s student at the Art Students League, “He arrived for class in a silk hat, flower in his buttonhole, fur-lined coat, very light gloves, spats, and a neat brown suit. When he entered the building, a rustle seemed to flow from the ground floor to the top that ‘Chase has arrived!’”

In this self-portrait painted only two years before his death, Chase depicted himself with a neatly trimmed beard, monocle, crisp white collar, and a fresh flower in his lapel. He gave this painting to the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1916, ensconcing his artistic self-presentation in the museum’s collection.
  
  
  Title
  Self Portrait
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1914
  
  Artist
  William Merritt Chase
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1849-1916
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm)
  Framed: 32 9/16 × 28 13/16 × 2 13/16 inches (82.7 × 73.2 × 7.1 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  American Art before 1950
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of the artist
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  16.16
  
  
  Copyright
  Copyright Not Evaluated
