M. FORD CREECH ANTIQUES & FINE ARTS
 

 

RICHARD HAYLEY LEVER

Australian / American, 1876-1958

 

 

 

 

“PADDLE STEAMER MARK TWAIN, MISSISSIPPI RIVER EADS BRIDGE AT ST. LOUIS”

Signed l.r.  Hayley Lever

Oil on Canvasboard

Inscribed verso "Mark Twain Ha......ta."

 

Museums: (31) 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;

Hayley Lever and the Modern Spirit, Carol Lowrey

Dreams and Dramas: Moonlight and Twilight in American Art, Valerie Leeds

 

Periodicals: (3) American Art Review; Art & Antiques

 

(Exact dating is not known for this painting.  His visit to St. Louis was perhaps in relation to an exhibition there. 

The signature form seems to indicate the early 40's.  From the 1945 on, Lever was troubled by severe arthritis

 and remained closer to home.  Whenever the visit, it was a rare occasion - and a unique opportunity taken

to document a vital part of both regional and American history.)

 

Image Size : 10'' H x 14'' W

 

 pRICE : Please Inquire

 

#6223

 

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Richard Hayley Lever stated during his lifetime : “Art is the recreation of mood in line, form and color.  If I were confined to my own backyard for the rest of my life, I’d still have more pictures in my mind than I would have time to paint.  Art is nothing but having a good time.” This attitude is evident is most of his works - his almost child-like pleasure in putting paint to canvas was always apparent, whether a misty harbor scene or the exuberant color of nature.    This year we have three excellent Lever's paintings - one being a very rare painting not only for Lever, but for American history - that of the St. Louis Paddle-Steamer "Mark Twain", and the historic St. Louis Eads Bridge, that when built employed such new techniques that an elephant was forced to precede humans on the first crossing in 1874.  In 1902, the Chicago Tribune documented a rare afternoon on this boat, when, beneath the flags of France and America, with the descendants of Lafayette and Rochambeau, Mark Twain steered the harbor boat up the Mississippi for his final ride.  The boat was subsequently named after him :   There was cryin' and cursin', but Mark yelled out, Over all the infernal roar: "I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last galoot's ashore!"   Through the thick, black smoke of the harbor boat Mark Twain's loud drawl was heard, And they all had trust in his cussedness And knowed he would keep his word.   But soon as they run the gang plank out They hurried to git ashore, Fur they knowed Ole Mark hadn't steered a boat Fur forty years or more.   I can only imagine a meeting of the two - the painter and the “penner”.  This painting may be as close as they could come.  Mark Twain died in 1910, just two years before Hayley Lever immigrated to America.         Click for more information about the construction of the historic Eads Bridge

 

 

Verso Inscription : Mark Twain Ha.......ta?

 

 

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 Art Art Gallery of South Australia Butler Institute of American Art Cheekwood Museum of Art & Botanical Garden Colby College Museum of Art Corcoran Gallery of Art Everson Museum Of Art Flint Museum of Art Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, MH De Young Heckscher Museum High Museum of Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art Museum of Art at Brigham Young University Museum of the City of New York Neuberger Museum of Art

New Jersey State Museum Norton Museum of Art Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery Spencer Museum of Art Telfair Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art The Detroit Institute of Arts The Hudson River Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art The 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

Lowrey, Carol, Hayley Lever and the Modern Spirit

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/Bicentennial 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

 

 

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Richard Hayley Lever, "Paddle Steamer Mark Twain, Mississippi River Eads Bridge at St. Louis", Oil on Canvas

 

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