Figure 19. William Merritt Chase( American, 1849 – 1916), A Subtle Device, 1881, oil on canvas, 11 7/8 x 18 15 / 16 in., Heckscher Museum of Art, gift of the Baker / Pisano Collection, 2001.9.53
Fine Arts, Boston)( figs. 17 and 18). Later that day, the Tilers were confronted by a real demon: the dreaded mosquito.“ It was a dispensation like one of the plagues of Egypt,” complained one of the artists. 94 Their troubles were relieved the next day when Baird, who had been wired in New York to bring mosquito netting, joined the group. By the fourth day, the inventive Chase used the netting to construct a makeshift outdoor studio in which he could paint unmolested by the pests( fig. 19). Chase’ s ingenious solution is depicted in his painting A Subtle Device, in effect, a self-portrait as a plein-air painter. In the background of Chase’ s composition are seen The Two Sisters and another Tiler lugging his heavy painting equipment in search of a suitable subject. At the end of the day the others returned with numerous sketches, but, unlike Chase’ s painting they were“ fragmentary and incomplete.” 95 That evening, frustrated by the forces of nature and the lack of artistic inspiration, Smith declared that he had had enough. The next morning Laffan agreed, claiming,“ Nature is opposed to this business.” 96 Quartley suggested the group give up their unsatisfactory quarters and move on to Port Jefferson,“ a‘ tiley’ town by the sea, not far away— a place of peace and cheapness.” 97
And, although the article continues as if this were an extension of the same trip, there is enough contradictory evidence to suggest that the story then leaps to yet another jaunt by the Tile Club to Long Island that happened more than a year later, in the fall of 1881.
Apparently, the group had not gathered enough illustrations or stories based on their aborted trip in the summer of 1880 to justify an article, which was tabled until additional material could be assembled. When plans were made for another summer trip to Long Island the following year( 1881), there were some complications. Twachtman, who had married that spring, planned to travel to Europe with his new bride. Chase, who had been putting off travel abroad, was bound and determined to see the first work he had had accepted to the Paris Salon. Others may have had conflicts as well. To add to this, the group knew that Abbey, who had hoped to join them on Long Island, would not return to the United States until that fall. He also wanted his friend, the English artist Alfred Parsons, who was accompanying him, to take part in the excursion. Abbey had written enthusiastically to Parsons the previous year about his Tile Club experience on Long Island in 1878:“ I never seemed to work so easily
24 THE TILE CLUB: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting