During his time abroad, Hale continued to master the academic side of his formal instruction in Paris, but also began exploring the artists’ colony in Giverny, where he was exposed to the work of the French Impressionists. The leadership of Monet and the practice of working en plein air drew Hale back to Giverny in 1889 and for every summer between 1891 and 1893, and his style was transformed by the time he accepted a position at the Museum School the next fall. His new works were more experimental as he attempted to loosely define forms not through fine draftsmanship, but through the transient qualities of light and color. One of his students, John Lavalle, remarked: “He had worked out a great many things about vibrations of color, pointillism…of getting the most colorful effect with the limitations of paint…he worked it all out for himself long before the others.”[1] Hale likely completed L'Été during these transformative years in France, for in this composition the artist experiments with sweeping brushstrokes, a vibrant color palette, and heavy impasto to articulate a windswept day. This rare, early figural work is housed in a hand-carved Newcomb Macklin frame.

[1] John Lavalle cited in Rob Leith, “Philip Leslie Hale: His Life,” typescript, 1986.

More information about this painting...

In addition to creating his own art, Hale enjoyed a long and distinguished career as an educator, teaching art history at Boston University, lecturing at the Boston and Metropolitan museums, and giving studio classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Hale was also a founding member of the Guild of Boston Artists, and belonged to the Boston Art Club, the St. Botolph Club, and the Philadelphia Art Club. He first exhibited at Vose Galleries in 1924 and has since then been commemorated in two major exhibitions at the gallery, in 1966 and 1988. Today Hale’s oil paintings, pastels, and drawings can be found in museums and art institutions throughout the country, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and the National Arts Club in New York City.

Provenance:

Private collection, France (antiques dealer)

With Siboni Auctions, Sceaux, France, by June 2020, after the death of the above a few years prior (according to the auction house, the antiques dealer may have inherited it from his mother, who may have purchased it in the 1940s)

To private collection, Fernandina Beach, Florida, June 2020 to present

Inscription:

(in pencil on crossbar) Philip L. Hale l’Eté