Hale’s painting Wisteria illustrates the artist’s determination to capture the atmospheric and changeable qualities of sunlight on the model and the flora of the garden environs, while also giving clear definition to the tangible objects in the scene, such as the pergola-type structure overhead and the glazed pot in the foreground. The painting's lively brushwork and luminous color palette make it a quintessential example of Hale’s outdoor work and it was favorably received by New York critics for American Art News and the New York Tribune at the time of the Eclectics showcase. The critic for the latter, Royal Cortissoz, remarked: “There are three canvases by Philip L. Hale, two decorative pictures and one portrait. ‘Wistaria’ (sic) and ‘Autumn Fruit’ are delightful, light in color, with figures of women in 1860 costumes against vines and trees. The design in both is pleasing and the tone charmingly cool.”[1]

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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:

Hale estate to John Castano, Castano Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts

To Vose Galleries, Boston, inventory no. 21837, October 1965

To private collection, Springfield Center, New York, August 1960 to September 1991

To Vose Galleries, Boston, inventory no. 30362, September 1991

To Richard H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, March 1992

Eventually to private Midwest collection until 2022 

Labels:

1. Vose Galleries stamp on top stretcher
2. R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois / H-633/9796 / Philip Leslie Hale / oil on canvas: 30 x 25 inches / unsigned / WISTERIA          
3. R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois / Ladies in the Home and Garden: / A Glimpse of Women Indoors & Out / by American Artists / 1850-1925 / 14 November 1992 through 15 January 1993 / Philip Leslie Hale / “Wisteria”
4. R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois / The Genteel Tradition / in / American Painting / 14 February 1998 – 28 March 1998
5. The Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach / The Genteel Tradition in American Painting / January 15, 1999 through March 21, 1999 / Philip Leslie Hale / WISTERIA 1895 / oil on canvas / GT 99.17
6. R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois / The Marshall Collection / Exhibition / December 4, 1999 – January 31, 2000
7. Peoria Riverfront Museum / L14.2014.32 / Hale, Philip Leslie / Wisteria / 1895 o/c / Marshall

Exhibitions:

1. First Exhibition of the Eclectics, The Folsom Galleries, New York, New York, January 1 – 13, 1916
2. (possible) Exhibition of Paintings by Philip L. Hale, Milwaukee Art Institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 1 – 31, 1924
3. (possible) Sesquicentennial International Exposition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1 – November 30, 1926 
4. Ladies in the Home and Garden: A Glimpse of Women Indoors & Out by American Artists 1850-1925, R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, November 14, 1992 – January 15, 1993
5. The Genteel Tradition in American Painting, R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, February 14 – March 28, 1998 (exhibit later traveled to the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida, January 15 – March 21, 1999)
6. The Marshall Collection Exhibition, R. H. Love Galleries, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, December 4, 1999 – January 31, 2000
7. Impressionism into Modernism: A Paradigm Shift in American Art, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Peoria, Illinois, September 26, 2014 – January 11, 2015