Philip Leslie Hale (1865 -193 1), in addition to being a successful painter and popular teacher for more than thirty years, also served as the art critic for the Boston Herald and Boston Evening Transcript. Born in Boston, the son of Rev. Edward Everett Hale, he began his art studies under J. Alden Weir in New York before traveling to Paris and enrolling at the Julian Academy. From an artistic family, including his sister Ellen Day Hale, Philip was one of the Giverny pioneers, and by the early 1890s was thoroughly converted to impressionism. In addition to his other activities, Hale taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for many years and maintained contact with his Giverny friend Theodore Earl Butler throughout his life. The Museum of Fine Arts held a memorial exhibition after Hale died suddenly in 1931.
Posed amidst a veritable mass of wisteria, Hale’s young subject seems to delight in her surroundings. The brilliant blooms and foliage magnify the spirit of the scene as it pictorially underscores the Genteel Tradition. Hale’s picture also typifies his considerable skill as an impressionist who successfully combined the influences of Paris and Giverny with those of the Boston School.
Courtesy of R.H. Love Gallery, Peoria, Illinois