Harvard University Professor of classical art (primarily sculpture); principal excavator at the Argive Heraeum. Chase graduated from Harvard University class of 1896. He spent two years at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens where he excavated the Argive Heraeum, being awarded an 1897 A. M. from Harvard in the process. He continued working on his Ph.D. at Harvard, spending the 1900-01 year as a master of St. Mark's School in Southborough, MA. In 1900 he was awarded his Ph.D. from Harvard with a dissertation on Greek Shield iconography.

First curator of photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Newhall's father was Herbert William Newhall (1858-1933), a medical doctor, and his mother was Alice Lilia Davis (Newhall) (1865-1940). He graduated cum laude in art history from Harvard University in 1930, proceeding directly for his master's degree in 1931. In graduate school, he attended the famous museum course by Paul J. Sachs and came into contact with Alfred H. Barr, Jr., then teaching classes at Wellesley.