RICHARD HAYLEY LEVER Australian/American, 1876-1958
"SUNSET ON THE BAY" Oil on Board Signed lower left Hayley Lever Labels verso from Chapellier Galleries, NYC, and New Britain Museum of American Art
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
Provenance: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain CT
Note: Prior to immigrating to America in 1912, Richard Hayley Lever, worked in England for 18 years, settling in St. Ives, Cornwall. There he began painting luminous harbor scenes, perfecting that subject matter upon his arrival in America - as in this extraordinary example. "Sunset on the Bay" again features Lever's strategic placement of pure blacks against lights and vivid colors, making the waters seem to glisten and dance. I know few painters who employ this device with such effectiveness. The directional brushwork not only builds energy, but depicts the city without painting a single detail - save a few lights.
I find most of Lever's paintings more about the joy of paint, color, light and energy than about the actual subject matter. There is usually a touch of whimsy or play, even in the more serious or misty scenes. Lever once said: "Art is the recreation of mind 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 is very evident in "Sunset on the Bay".
Image Size: 6” x 9”
SOLD
#5872
oTHER pAINTINGS BY RICHARD HAYLEY LEVER:
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 Include :
Books include :
Spanierman Gallery, Fine American Art from 1845 to 1960 Spanierman Gallery, Art for the New Collector II, Re-Emerging American Artists Lowrey, Carol, Hayley LeverSpanierman 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 Also See : M. FORD CREECH 'FINE ART PAGE'
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