In the Footsteps of painter Richard Hall

  Cover, La Revue nantaise No 4, 15.12.1897 La bibliothèque municipale de Nantes  Richard Hall held a large solo exhibition entitled Exposition des œuvres du peintre Richard Hall in Nantes from December 6 to 19, 1897. The venue was Galerie Préaubert. I have described the works exhibited in a blog post entitled Exhibition in Nantes in 1897 . The local newspaper La Revue nantaise published a review of the exhibition on December 15, 1897. The review is interesting because it also provides some background information on Hall's work at the Melleray monastery. In addition, the five-page review is illustrated with two of Hall's paintings. They depict monks. The images are of rather poor quality, but they still give an idea of the works on display at the exhibition. La Revue nantaise was a magazine about literature and art that came out twice a month. The first issue of the magazine had come out just a little earlier, in November 1897. The exhibition review was written by Marcel Gira...

Exposition des œuvres du peintre Richard Hall 6. - 19.12.1897 Cover of the exhibition catalogue Nantes : Imp. G. Schwob, 1897 La bibliothèque municipale de Nantes Richard Hall lived in Nantes and Paris from 1897 to 1899. In Nantes, his address was 3 rue La Galissonnière. From the beginning of 1898, he also had a studio on rue Dobré in Nantes. Both addresses are located in the center of Nantes, about half a kilometer apart. I have written about these places in my blog posts 1890s and the abbey and An Atelier in Nantes . Hall held a private exhibition in Nantes called Exposition des œuvres du peintre Richard Hall from December 6 to 19, 1897. The venue was Galerie Préaubert at 10, rue Lekain. News reports from the time indicate that the art scene in Nantes was rather sparse at the time and Hall's exhibition was considered a significant event. An article about the exhibition was published in a magazine La Revue Nantaise on December 15, 1897. It is located in La bibliothèque municipa...

  Richard Hall: Interiör från Bretagne (Interior. Scene in Brittany), 1888 Oil on canvas, 75 x 93 cm Nationalmuseum, Sweden Photo: Linn Ahlgren / Nationalmuseum     In my blog post, I wrote about Brittany and Le Pouldu during the time when Richard Hall lived in Brittany. I am currently aware of eight paintings that he made while living there. Two of them are located in museums. I will now focus on these works, as high-quality photographs of them are available. The other six works have either been sold at auction, shared on social media, or exhibited at the Paris Salon. Hall himself has said that he sold many of his Brittany-themed works to the United States. Artists who traveled to Brittany were particularly interested in seascapes and the distinctive clothing style of the local population. Nordic artists mostly depicted the region's inhabitants outdoors, working on farms or as part of the landscape. At the same time, they practiced outdoor painting, which required ...

  Source: Hall Richard Pintor [1930s-1960s], British Library   Richard Hall traveled to South America in 1914. His destination was Uruguay, where he painted portraits. That same year, World War I broke out in Europe. In 1915, he moved to Argentina, where he lived until his death in 1942. He continued his active career as an artist, painting portraits and still lifes, as well as working as an illustrator. In 1914, he married Luciana Maria Magdalena Chobard (January 21, 1896 - July 4, 1980). They had five children named Irene, Enrique, Magdalena, Juanita, and Isabel. While living in Argentina, Hall obtained citizenship. Information about Hall's life in Argentina has been preserved in the digitized archive Hall Richard Pintor [1930s-1960s] published by the British Library, which contains newspaper clippings, photographs, images of his works, and a few letters. Unfortunately, some of the information in the materials is incomplete and inaccurate. The Spanish-language blog Fotos Vi...

Mrs. Corby Fox Source: Kotitaide-lehti 08/1909, Jyväskylä University   Richard Hall held a private exhibition at the House of Nobility in Helsinki from October 10 to November 8, 1909. The exhibition was open daily from noon to 4 p.m. The venue was prestigious, located in the administrative center of Helsinki, one block from Senate Square. The exhibition proved popular, attracting a total of 2,675 visitors. It drew considerable attention in the press, with several news articles and reviews being written about it. Hall continued to work during the exhibition, painting three portraits. It seems that he remained in Finland for quite some time after the exhibition, at least until August of the following year. At that time, he wrote a letter from his mother's home in Villa Rauhala with the aim of arranging a visit to Finland for the artist's daughter and her spouse. A good selection of source material from the exhibition at the House of Nobility has been preserved. The National Gall...

Left: W.K. Vanderbilt, photograph circa 1900. Source: Wikimedia Commons Right: Photograph of Richard Hall’s painting Mr. W. K. Vanderbilt. Source:  Hall Richard Pintor [1930s-1960s], British Library   Richard Hall made his definitive breakthrough as a portrait painter in the spring of 1901, when he held a solo exhibition at Galerie Georges Petit. I wrote about the exhibition in the blog post Successful Exhibition in Paris . That autumn, he painted a portrait in Paris of Mr. Vanderbilt, who belonged to one of the wealthiest families in the United States. A year later, in the fall of 1902, Hall stated that he had traveled to New York to paint other members of the family. Writing this article has been exceptionally challenging due to the abundance of conflicting information. The sources include old newspaper articles and the archive Hall Richard Pintor [1930s–1960s] , published by the British Library. The archive was created when Hall, while living in Argentina, sent his p...

Illustration from the newspaper article  L'Éclair 11 May 1901   On Thursday, 2 May 1901, an exhibition of Richard Hall opened at Galerie Georges Petit. Located at 8, rue de Sèze, it was open from 2 PM to 7 PM. The exhibition received extensive coverage in the French press. Thanks to these articles, it’s possible to form an impression of the event, even though I don’t have access to a catalogue or images. The tone of the reporting was influenced by the newspapers’ political leanings: the most detailed review was published by the left-leaning La Dépêche Toulouse, which did not hold back its criticism. The article describes the exhibition in great detail, helping to reconstruct what works were likely on display. Georges Petit was one of the most renowned gallery owners in Paris. Archives from his business have been digitized and available in French National Library’s Gallica service . However, I wasn’t able to find materials related to this specific exhibition, so for now, we don...