"ST. IVES , CORNWALL ENGLAND"
Oil on Canvas
Signed Lower Left : Hayley Lever
Inscribed Verso : St. Ives, Cornwall, England, 1904
Housed in a American Impressionist giltwood frame
(Stretcher inscribed Glendale NY)

Literature : Hayley Lever, Carol Lowrey. pp. 32-3; full page color illustration, p. 33

Note :
This is a fully developed painting, with rhythmic fully loaded brushstrokes, intricate
development of small and large mass,
as well as muted colors punctuated by bits of brilliance.
Lever's St. Ives harbor scenes are known for their brilliance and luminousity.

Provenance : Spanierman Gallery, bearing label verso
Listed in "Spanierman Works for Sale, Feb-April 2003, Price on Request"

Condition : Excellent; two very small areas in the sky of inpainting; a few very minor age cracks to oil;
painted with heavy impasto strokes - thus many of the tiny white spots are light reflections

Image Size : 10.25″ x 13.25"
Framed Size 14.25″ x 17.25"

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RICHARD HAYLEY LEVER (1876-1958)

"Art is the recreation of mood 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."

Richard Hayley Lever, Australian / American, 1876-1958

Indeed, looking at the art of Richard Hayley Lever is like playing in his mind's backyard –

that place where the whim of imagination rules and can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary,

indulging the senses and making the heart dance. We all know that singular "rush".

Hayley Lever, as he is known in the art world, was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1876.

After early studies at the Prince Alfred Cultural Institute in Adelaide,

he used an inheritance to study in Europe, including the Académie Julian in Paris, and in London.

He settled in St. Ives in Cornwall, where his luminous works of harbor scenes gained immediate acclaim.

In 1912, at the urging of American painter Ernest Lawson, Lever moved to America, settling in New York.

He immediately fell in love with the American spirit -

incorporating it with gusto into his many canvases of street scenes, landscapes, florals, and of course, harbor scenes.

He was one of the most widely exhibited and collected painters of the day.

He received many awards, and his works were purchased by many major museums,

including the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, and The Phillips Collection, and Corcoran in Washington, D.C.

Lever worked throughout New England and maritime Canada, held a lifetime membership in the National Arts Club,

taught at the Art Student's League, and served as Director of the Studio Art Club in Mt. Vernon, NY.

He held memberships in most major American and British societies,

including the National Academy of Design and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

His paintings are a marriage of Impressionism and Post Impressionism,

incorporating an energetic brushwork that charges the works with movement.

The paintings are also more about the joy of paint, color, light and energy than about subject matter –

and thoroughly transport whatever subject is chosen.

His compositions are always very strong – most works injected with prominent well placed blacks,

which illuminate the hues of color, and make lights dance and dazzle almost beyond reality.

There is usually a touch of whimsy or play, even in the more serious or misty scenes.

It is said that he was deeply influenced by Van Gogh.

Yet his paintings remain distinctly "Lever" - and distinctly American.

Another Hayley Lever from the St. Ives Area :

Richard Hayley Lever, Australian / American "Devonshire River", Watercolor

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.  

Selection of Museums include:

Books: (64) including

Spanierman Gallery, Fine American Art from 1845 to 1960 

Spanierman Gallery, Art for the New Collector II, Re-Emerging American Artists

Spanierman 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

Click Below For

 M. FORD CREECH 'FINE ART PAGE'