Joseph Cummings Chase was born May 5, 1878 in Kents Hill, Maine and spent most of his
life in the East. He studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York City, the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Academie Julian in Paris France. Chase
came to national fame as a portrait artist especially during World War I when he was
commissioned as a painter by the army for six months and asked to paint portraits of
prominent members of the military. In all, Chase painted or drew 142 portraits of
both American and French soldiers during the war which included future general
Douglas MacArthur. Many of these portraits appear in his book Soldiers All which was first published in 1920.
After the war he continued to work in the art industry. He painted actors and
actresses through his connections as a member of the Players Club in New York City.
He also had the opportunity to paint such important American figures such as General
and later, President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and actor Charles Coburn. He also served
as Dean of the Art Program at Hunter College, and published multiple books on art
and portraiture. Chase married Cora E. Binzel in 1945. They moved to Milwaukee in
1954 where he spent the last years of his life while continuing to work on
portraiture and sketch art until his death on January 15, 1965. Many of Chase's
original works were auctioned at an estate sale to benefit the Red Cross after his
passing, while other works of his still reside at the Smithsonian Institution.
