Collection: Louisa Chase

Louisa Chase (b. 1951- 2016) was a Panamanian American artist known for using bright color palettes and geometric forms in her gestural, abstract depictions of landscapes and parts of the human body.

Chase was part of the new image painting and neo expressionism movements of the 1970s and 1980s, which rejected the principals of minimalism and conceptual art. Chase placed an emphasis on her brush strokes in her works, which often juxtaposed dark images with light color schemes. This unique style often featured partial, almost cartoonish, human forms being absorbed into ominous bodies, characterized by energetic brush work and bold colors.  

Chase, graduated with a bachelors in printmaking from Syracuse University in 1973, before completing her master’s in fine art from Yale University School of Art in 1975. She would go on to teach at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1975-1979, and at the School of Visual Arts from 1980-1982. During this time, she was also, a National Endowment for the Arts grantee.

Her works can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Corcoran Gallery and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.