A monumental 1981 oil on canvas by celebrated American Neo-Expressionist Louisa Chase, Grotto is a commanding example of the artist’s early mature language where landscape, abstraction, and psychological space converge.
Measuring an impressive 96”W x 72”H, the composition presents a cavernous, almost theatrical void framed by gestural foliage and a charged field of saturated yellow. Sinuous green vines trace across the surface, animated against passages of gray, violet, and black. The grotto itself reads as both shelter and the abyss, while being simultaneously playful and unsettling, a common duality central to Chase’s practice.
Chase’s paint handling is confident and deliberate as the brushwork shifts between loose atmospheric passages and assertive contour lines, reinforcing the tension between spontaneity and structure. The surface reveals the artist’s deep engagement with mark making and spatial illusion, themes that defined the resurgence of figurative painting in the early 1980s.
Hand signed and dated lower right.
Provenance: Robert Miller Gallery, New York.
Executed during a pivotal period in American painting, Grotto reflects Chase’s connection to New Image Painting and the broader Neo-Expressionist movement. Her work from this era demonstrates a dynamic interplay between humor, psychological ambiguity, and chromatic intensity.
Louisa Lizbeth Chase (1951–2016) was a prominent American Neo-Expressionist painter and printmaker.
Born in Panama City and raised in Pennsylvania, Chase received her BFA from Syracuse University in 1973 and her MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1975. That same year she debuted in New York at Artists Space. She taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts and was a National Endowment for the Arts fellow. Chase exhibited internationally, including the 1984 Venice Biennale. Her solo exhibitions included Brooke Alexander Gallery, The Texas Gallery, and Gallery Inge Baker in Cologne. She exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Madison Art Center, and the Contemporary Museum Baltimore.
Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, SFMoMA, LACMA, and the Brooklyn Museum.
Her paintings are held in permanent collections including:
•The Museum of Modern Art
•The Metropolitan Museum of Art
•The Whitney Museum of American Art
•The Library of Congress
•The Walker Art Center
•The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
•The Denver Art Museum
Chase lived and worked in Sag Harbor, New York until her passing in 2016.
Artist: Louisa Chase
Dimensions: 96”W x 72”H
Style: Neo-Expressionist
Materials: Oil, Canvas
Period: 1981
Condition: Great condition. Surface presents well with strong color retention and stable canvas. Minimal wear consistent with age.
A monumental 1981 oil on canvas by celebrated American Neo-Expressionist Louisa Chase, Grotto is a commanding example of the artist’s early mature language where landscape, abstraction, and psychological space converge.
Measuring an impressive 96”W x 72”H, the composition presents a cavernous, almost theatrical void framed by gestural foliage and a charged field of saturated yellow. Sinuous green vines trace across the surface, animated against passages of gray, violet, and black. The grotto itself reads as both shelter and the abyss, while being simultaneously playful and unsettling, a common duality central to Chase’s practice.
Chase’s paint handling is confident and deliberate as the brushwork shifts between loose atmospheric passages and assertive contour lines, reinforcing the tension between spontaneity and structure. The surface reveals the artist’s deep engagement with mark making and spatial illusion, themes that defined the resurgence of figurative painting in the early 1980s.
Hand signed and dated lower right.
Provenance: Robert Miller Gallery, New York.
Executed during a pivotal period in American painting, Grotto reflects Chase’s connection to New Image Painting and the broader Neo-Expressionist movement. Her work from this era demonstrates a dynamic interplay between humor, psychological ambiguity, and chromatic intensity.
Louisa Lizbeth Chase (1951–2016) was a prominent American Neo-Expressionist painter and printmaker.
Born in Panama City and raised in Pennsylvania, Chase received her BFA from Syracuse University in 1973 and her MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1975. That same year she debuted in New York at Artists Space. She taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts and was a National Endowment for the Arts fellow. Chase exhibited internationally, including the 1984 Venice Biennale. Her solo exhibitions included Brooke Alexander Gallery, The Texas Gallery, and Gallery Inge Baker in Cologne. She exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Madison Art Center, and the Contemporary Museum Baltimore.
Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, SFMoMA, LACMA, and the Brooklyn Museum.
Her paintings are held in permanent collections including:
•The Museum of Modern Art
•The Metropolitan Museum of Art
•The Whitney Museum of American Art
•The Library of Congress
•The Walker Art Center
•The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
•The Denver Art Museum
Chase lived and worked in Sag Harbor, New York until her passing in 2016.
Artist: Louisa Chase
Dimensions: 96”W x 72”H
Style: Neo-Expressionist
Materials: Oil, Canvas
Period: 1981
Condition: Great condition. Surface presents well with strong color retention and stable canvas. Minimal wear consistent with age.
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