"THE OLD SWIMMING HOLE"

Oil on Canvas, Signed lower right

Dated 1925 on stretcher, with title

Clayton-Liberatore Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY label verso

Provenance: Clayton-Liberatore Gallery*

*Provenance: Clayton-Liberatore Gallery, 37^th Street, New York, label verso (formerly Leonard Clayton Gallery,

New York, N.Y., founded by Leonard Clayton when he took over the Marie Sterner Gallery;

later with his niece, Mary C. Liberatore, established Clayton-Liberatore Gallery; agents for Lever during his lifetime and after) 

Museums: (30) 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(2); Art & Antiques

Image size: 10” x 12"

Richard Hayley Lever was an Australian/American painter,

immigrating to America in 1912 at the urging of Connecticut painter

Ernest Lawson.  His canvases and watercolors of American life were immediately

 collected by major museums, including the Metropolitan, and the Corcoran Gallery. 

He worked  throughout New England and Canada, producing a body of paintings

alive with color and energy. 

They are particularly "American" in their presence, many having a great sense of light-heartedness. 

He is represented in major museums throughout America and Australia.

"The Old Swimming Hole" is one of five Lever paintings we have been privileged to offer. 

It embodies the finest elements of Lever's work - with rich coloration and tremendous energy

conveyed through loaded brushwork.  It also features figures,

which is somewhat scarce among his canvases. 

For more information  on Hayley Lever, please see www.mfordcreech.com/richard_hayley_lever.html

*Leonard Clayton (Clayton-Liberatore Gallery) was Lever's sponsor and gallery both

during and after his life.

#5483

SOLD

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.

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Richard Hayley Lever, The Old Swimming Hole 

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