Philip Leslie Hale 1865-1931

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 107th Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, February-March 1912, no. 127
Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Nineteenth Annual Exhibition of American Art, May 1912
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Water Color Club, 10th Annual Exhibition, November-December 1912, no. 11
San Francisco, California, San Francisco Palace of the Fine Arts, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915, no. 1719
Boston, Massachusetts, Guild of Boston Artists, Exhibition of Paintings by Philip L. Hale, 1916, no. 7
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Exhibition of Contemporary Artists, 1916-1917, no. 100
Boston, Massachusetts, Guild of Boston Artists, Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Philip L. Hale, 1919, no. 11
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Art Institute, Exhibition of Paintings by Philip Leslie Hale, 1924, no. 17
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Paintings, Sculptures and Prints in the Department of Fine Arts, Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition, 1926, no. 222, illustrated
New York, Berry-Hill Galleries, American Paintings and Sculpture VIII, 1999, illustrated

A prominent member of the Boston School, as well as an influential teacher, critic and writer, Philip Leslie Hale is best known for his sunlit depictions of elegant women indulging in leisurely activities outdoors.  While in subject matter the artist’s work echoed that of his Boston School contemporaries, amongst them William MacGregor Paxton and Edmund Tarbell, Hale’s Neo-Impressionistic style was a departure from their more traditional works.  Trained in Paris at the Academie Julian and École des Beaux Arts, later followed by summers at Giverny, Hale’s academic background yielded formal compositions concerned with Impressionist light and color.  By 1893, however, Hale began to explore the work of the Neo-Impressionists and Symbolists and he developed a unique approach of his own, abandoning the Monet-inspired impressionism favored at the time.

By 1911-12,  Hale had developed his own personal full-blown brand of Impressionism.   In Autumn Fruit, two young women collect ripe grapes for their basket, swathed in sheer white dresses while a luminous autumnal glow bathes them in a yellow light.  Above the figures, the lush vines and bursting purple fruits anchor the composition.  The fluid brushstrokes and delicate hues create a richly textured surface which echoes the beauty and languidness of his subjects.  As Carol Lowrey writes discussing another picture, “Hale was painting young, female models (usually his students) dressed in thin transparent costumes in brilliant sunshine, a strategy that allowed him to capture shimmering light effects.  Using a combination of high-keyed color with an emphasis on yellow and a long, thin Neo-Impressionist-derived brushstroke, he created works such as Girls in Sunlight (ca. 1892, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), in which four figures stand in bright sunlight, dematerialized to the extent that they are almost completely merged with the surrounding landscape” (Philip Leslie Hale A.N.A. (1865-1931), Boston, Massachusetts, Vose Galleries, 1988, p. 5).