The following is from Peter Kostoulakos, ISA Fine Art Consultant, www.pkart.com

Sidney Marsh Chase painter, illustrator, and writer was born in Haverhill, MA on June 19, 1877 and died there on June 12, 1957. Active as a painter and illustrator from 1919 through the 1940's, he is best known for pieces depicting landscapes, genre, fishermen, coastal scenes, bathers, pirates, boats, and beaches. In 1929, his address was 4 Mount Vernon Street in Haverhill, MA.

Chase received his primary education in the Haverhill school system and then went on to study at Harvard. Upon graduation, he attended the Eric Pape School of Art in Boston, MA for two years. While at the Pape, Chase met and developed friendships with fellow students Henry Jarvis Peck (1880-1964), Clifford Warren Ashley (1881-1947), and Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945). He was a pupil of Edmund Charles Tarbell (1862-1938); Howard Pyle (1853-1911); Charles Herbert Woodbury (1864-1940); Eric Pape (1870-1938); and for the summer in 1901 with George Loftus Noyes (1864-1954) in Annisquam, MA.

Chase began working as a commercial artist in Boston and achieved some success as an illustrator and writer. Always looking to hone their skills, Chase and Wyeth decided to study under Howard Pyle in Wilmington, DE. By this time, he and Wyeth had become close friends and roommates.

Illustrations by Chase were being used by such prestigious publications as the "Saturday Evening Post", "Collier's", "Harper's Monthly", and "Scribner's". Some of these magazines published stories written and illustrated by Chase. One such yarn, "A Yankee Privateer," with several of Chase's oil-on-canvas illustrations was published in Scribner's Magazine, Vol. LIII, No. 5, May, 1913.

In 1915, Chase made the decision to work full-time as a painter in oil and watercolor. He painted coastal views of Port Clyde, ME and, in later years, he painted a series of watercolors illustrating "Willie the Faerie" poetry by his wife Florence Lowe Chase.

Chase was a member of the Salmagundi Club in New York City; the American Watercolor Society in New York City; and the North Shore Artists Association in Gloucester, MA. He was a Trustee of the Haverhill Public Library for more than forty years. Chase exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and the Wilmington Society of Fine Arts in Delaware where he won a prize for watercolor in1932.

Chase's work is in the collections of the Haverhill Public Library in Haverhill, MA; the Wilmington Society of Fine Arts in Wilmington, DE; the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, DE; and the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, ME.

At Chase's request, some of his remaining work was destroyed shortly after his death.

References: Who Was Who in American Art, vol. I, page 111; Davenport's Art Reference 2003/2004, page 399; Mantle Fielding, 1986, page 147; Mallett, page 76; Dealer's Choice Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters... page 249; Smithsonian Institution Research Information System; Haverhill Public Library files; Gregory Laing (Haverhill Public Library) letter, August 30, 1993; Scribner's Magazine, Vol. 53, No. 5, May, 1913.