RICHARD HAYLEY LEVER
Australian/American, 1876-1958
“AUTUMN”
(Marblehead Pool, c1925)
Oil on CanvasUnsigned, with letter of authentication, and an accompanying essay by curator
and author Valerie Leeds, specialist in early 20th century American art,
the Ashcan School and Robert Henri
Housed in a 22K Custom Frame
Provenance: Corporate Collection, purchased through Kennedy Galleries,
New York City, and bearing Kennedy Galleries label verso
(Kennedy Galleries handled much of Lever's estate)
Museums: (29) including Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
High Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Yale University Art Gallery,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Cheekwood Museum of Art (& others)
Books: (64) including Hayley Lever by Carol Lowrey
Periodicals: (3) American Art Review; Art & Antiques
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The above painting by Australian-American painter Richard Hayley Lever, is a rich and lyrical landscape entitled verso "Autumn". When purchased, we knew only that it had come from Lever's estate to New York's Kennedy Galleries, who handled much of the Lever estate. It went thence to a corporate collection. But we did not know when it was painted - or where. After purchasing "Autumn", quite by accident, I happened upon the watercolor below, with the same Kennedy Galleries label, titled and dated "Marblehead Pool, 1925". The watercolor is obviously of the same setting from a different vantage point, and most likely a study in preparation for this outstanding oil.
"Autumn", as said, is quite lyrical for Lever's larger works. While many of smaller Lever's works are free and playful, some of the larger ones often become somewhat more structured and linear. In "Autumn", the branches' curved lines dominate the structure, rather than the straight lines he often favored - lending a quiet grace as opposed to angularity. With the oil paints, Lever mixed Damar Varnish, enabling each single brushstroke to build a dimensional layer of paint, providing not only linear motion to the stokes and what they depicted, but also a hint of sculpture This same technique is used on Lever's painting, The Port of St. Ives, Cornwall, chosen by Carol Lowrey for the cover of her monolith Hayley Lever. She describes this technique as applying "his pigment in a dense impasto to produce a crisp, tactile surface". With this tactile surface, he combined a myriad of greens - olive to cobalt and viridian - played against earth tones, and complemented with triangles of vibrant blue to the sky - all mirrored in the pool. The entire composition is unusual for Lever and extremely successful - so successful that Ashcan School and Robert Henri curator Valerie Leeds asked if I would like for her to write an essay on it. Ms. Leeds' essay is included along with both the watercolor and the oil "Autumn".
The watercolor on paper (a link below) entitled "Marblehead Pool, 1925", depicts the same setting as "Autumn", but from a different vantage point. The handling of the setting is similar, with the water reflections and sparing use of blue in the water. If you look closely, you can see the change of vantage point from this image, to the artist's position in "Autumn" - across the pond, to the left of the two large trees, looking across to the small row of sketched trees and road on the right in this watercolor.
It is an extreme pleasure to offer both of these paintings at the same time. Together, they show not only the thought process of the artist, but one of the better fully developed oil paintings available by Hayley Lever. |
Stretcher size: 25” x 30”
#6071
Offered also is a Hayley Lever 14" x 22" watercolor, similarly handled, and painted from a different vantage point,
signed and entitled "Marblehead Pool, 1925", also with Kennedy Galleries label verso - below
Other Paintings by Richard Hayley Lever:
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LEVER, Richard Hayley (1876-1958)
Birth place: Adelaide, South Australia
Death place: Mt. Vernon, NY
Addresses: NYC; Mt. Vernon, NY
Profession: Painter
Studied: Prince Alfred Club, Adelaide; Art Students League; Paris; London.
Exhibited: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual;, 1913-32, 1940 (medal, 1917; gold medal, 1926);
Corcoran Gallery biennials, 1914-41 (12 times); National Arts Club 1914-15 (prizes); Pan-Pacific Expo,
1915; National Academy of Design, 1914, 1936, 1938 (prizes); NAC, 1914-16, 1922, 1940;
Philadelphia Watercolor Club, 1918 (prize); Sesqui-Centennial Expo, Philadelphia, 1926 (prize); Montclair
Art Academy, 1930 (prize); New Rochelle Art Academy, 1941 (prize); Art Institute of Chicago; Society
of Independent Artists, 1920; Salons of America , 1934; Whitney Museum of American Art, 1922-46; Newark Art Club,
1936 (prize); Westchester Arts & Crafts, 1945 (prize); Macbeth, Rehn, Ferargil, Daniels, French & Co.,
Clayton, & other NYC galleries.
Member: National Academy of Design; American Painters & Engravers; National Arts Club; Connecticut Academy
of Fine Arts; Royal British Artists, London; Associate National Academy, 1925; National Academician, 1933;
Royal Institute of Oil Painters, London; Royal West of England Academy; Contemporary; New
Society Artists; Woodstock Art Association
Work: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum; Montclair
Art Museum; Boston Museum of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art; White House, Washington, DC; Ft.
Worth Museum of Art; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Los Angeles Museum of Art; Telfair Academy; Detroit
Institute of Art; Des Moines Art Museum; Woodstock Art Association; University Nebraska; Phillips Memorial
Gallery; Duquesne Club, Pittsburgh; National Arts Club; Adelaide (So. Australia) Art Museum; Sydney
(Australia) Art Museum; Whitney Museum of American Art; Syracuse Museum FA; Antioch College; City Art Museum
of St. Louis; Memphis Art Museum; Springville (Utah) Art Academy; Perth Amboy (NJ) Public Library;
Little Rock Art Museum; Salt Lake City University Museum; Lincoln (NE) University
Comments: Best known as a Post-Impressionist of marine scenes, he was active in St. Ives, England, beginning c.1895.
In 1911, Ernest Lawson persuaded him to emigrate to the U.S. After the Depression forced him to give up his
home in Caldwell, NJ, he became director of the Studio Art Club, in Mt. Vernon, NY. He spent his summers at
Gloucester, MA, for twenty years. In addition to Caldwell, NJ, he painted in Manasquan (NJ), Woodstock (NY),
Nantucket, Vermont, and Monhegan Island (ME). In later years his palette became more vibrant.
Signature note: His signature was typically bold and slashing during the 1910s-20s, while his later signatures have fewer flourishes.
Sources: WW53; WW47; Curtis, Curtis, and Lieberman, 32, 184; Woodstock AA; Falk, Exh. Record Series.
This biography is drawn from “Who Was Who in American Art” , the reference book on the cultural life in the United States.
Museums: (30)
Addison Gallery of American ArtArt Gallery of South AustraliaButler Institute of American ArtCheekwood Museum of Art & Botanical GardenColby College Museum of ArtCorcoran Gallery of Art Everson Museum Of ArtFlint Museum of Art Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, MH De YoungHeckscher MuseumHigh Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of ArtMuseum of Art at Brigham Young UniversityMuseum of the City of New YorkNeuberger Museum of Art |
New Jersey State MuseumNorton Museum of ArtPennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsSheldon Memorial Art GallerySpencer Museum of ArtTelfair Museum of ArtThe Baltimore Museum of ArtThe Brooklyn Museum of ArtThe Corcoran Gallery of ArtThe Detroit Institute of ArtsThe Hudson River MuseumThe Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Montclair Art Museum The Phillips Collection Yale University Art Gallery |
Books: (64) including
Spanierman Gallery, Fine American Art from 1845 to 1960
Spanierman Gallery, Art for the New Collector II, Re-Emerging American Artists
Lowrey, Carol, Hayley Lever
Spanierman Gallery, Art for the New Collector 1840-2001
Steiner, Raymond J, The Art Students League of New York - A History (Teachers)
Caldwell, Joseph S III & IV, Select Works: Fine American and European Paintings
Vose Galleries, Vose Art Notes - Art Collecting in America/A Timeline
Hopps, Walter (others) American Images/The SBC Collection of 20th Century American Art
Curtis, Jane/Will, F Lieberman, Monhegan - The Artists' Island
High Museum of Art, American Paintings at the High Museum of Art
Fresella-Lee, Nancy, The American Paintings (in the) Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art
Geske, Norman/Karen Janovy, The American Painting Collection - The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
Preato, Robert/Sandra Langer, Impressionism & Post-Impressionism - Transformations 1885-1945
Berry-Hill Galleries, American Impressionist Paintings (Taylor Gallery exhibition, London)
Kennedy Galleries, Insights and Outlooks - American 20th Century Watercolors & Drawings
Brooklyn Museum, American Watercolors, Pastels, Collages/ Brooklyn Museum
Rodriguez Roque, Oswaldo, Directions in American Painting1875-1925
Maurice Sternberg, Galleries, The American Perspective
Brooklyn Museum, American Paintings/Brooklyn
Montclair Art Museum, The American Painting Collection of the Montclair Art Museum
Chambers, Bruce W, American Paintings in the High Museum of Art/Bicentenial Catalogue
Graham, F Lanier, Three Centuries...American Painting M H deYoung and Palace of Legion of Honor
Chapellier Galleries, American Art Selections - Turn of the Century
Everson Museum of Art, American Painting from 1830
Neuhaus, Eugene, The History and Ideals of American Art
Bryant, Lorinda Munson, American Pictures & their Painters
Periodicals: (3)
American Art Review, 2006 August, Born of Fire - The Valley of Work
Art & Antiques, March 2003, Gallery Watch
American Art Review, March 1996, Valley of Work: Scenes of Industry
We welcome and encourage all inquiries. We will make every attempt to answer any questions you might have.
For information, call (901) 761-1163 or (901) 827-4668 or email mfcreech@bellsouth.net
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