Elsie Rowland Chase
1863 – 1937
Elsie Rowland Chase (1863-1937) specialized in painting the world of her friends and family. She studied at the Yale School of the Fine Arts from 1884 to 1889 and was an active member of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club. She was also a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.
Elsie was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Edmund Rowland, who became rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, on the Green in Waterbury, in 1884. In 1890 Elsie Rowland married Frederick Starkweather Chase, son of Augustus Sabin Chase and later the founder of the Chase Rolling Mill Company and president of Chase Companies, Inc. (Frederick Chase graduated from Yale in 1887, while Elsie was still studying there.) The couple lived in Waterbury and in Middlebury and raised six children. Their fifth child, Frederika, was the subject of a painting by Josephine Lewis, whom Elsie knew at Yale. Rowland Park in Waterbury is named after Elsie's family.
From "Paintings by Elsie Rowland Chase" (Yale, 1938):
"During a life rich in civic and philanthropic achievement, Elsie Rowland Chase found time to create a long series of paintings.... Mrs. Chase exhibited infrequently; but if her art remained comparatively little known outside the immediate circle of her family and friends, it is worthy of a wider recognition as the expression of a sensitive and observant personality. ...One can pay Mrs. Chase no greater compliment than to say that through the distinction of her art she restored to its former dignity and purpose the position of the amateur."
Elsie was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Edmund Rowland, who became rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, on the Green in Waterbury, in 1884. In 1890 Elsie Rowland married Frederick Starkweather Chase, son of Augustus Sabin Chase and later the founder of the Chase Rolling Mill Company and president of Chase Companies, Inc. (Frederick Chase graduated from Yale in 1887, while Elsie was still studying there.) The couple lived in Waterbury and in Middlebury and raised six children. Their fifth child, Frederika, was the subject of a painting by Josephine Lewis, whom Elsie knew at Yale. Rowland Park in Waterbury is named after Elsie's family.
From "Paintings by Elsie Rowland Chase" (Yale, 1938):
"During a life rich in civic and philanthropic achievement, Elsie Rowland Chase found time to create a long series of paintings.... Mrs. Chase exhibited infrequently; but if her art remained comparatively little known outside the immediate circle of her family and friends, it is worthy of a wider recognition as the expression of a sensitive and observant personality. ...One can pay Mrs. Chase no greater compliment than to say that through the distinction of her art she restored to its former dignity and purpose the position of the amateur."
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