Exhibition in Nantes in 1897

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 municipale de Nantes, the Nantes municipal library. I was able to track down the magazine thanks to the digitized newspaper archive of the French National Library. From there I found a news item in the Journal le Phare de la Loire that mentioned the extensive article in La Revue Nantaise.

The article located in the Nantes City Library had not been digitized, but Helene Hall, Richard Hall's great granddaughter who happens to currently live in Nantes,  was very kind and visited the library. As a result of her visit, in addition to the article in question, the library also found the original preface to the exhibition and a list of works. The library digitized the materials, so I was able to access them despite the distance. I am most grateful for the help I received, without which this wonderful material would not have been found!

Foreword

Thomas Maisonneuve wrote the foreword to the exhibition catalog. He may have been a secretary, poet, and watercolorist who lived in Nantes and was a member of the Société des amis des arts de Nantes association. Maisonneuve is mentioned on the website of the French National Institute of Art History (INHA), and a sculpture depicting him is in the collection of the Nantes Museum of Fine Arts.

In the preface, Maisonneuve focuses on lavishly praising Richard Hall as an artist. There is little actual information in the four-page text, mainly a brief mention of Hall's work at Melleray Abbey. Maisonneuve praises Hall as a portraitist who knows how to capture the soul of his subjects. The artist receives many other compliments, such as: 

Vous êtes un fervent des anciens maitres. A eux vous avez pris la solidité de la pâte, l'honnêté du dessin, la naïveté de la nature, le chatoiement des couleurs, l'enveloppement de la lumière. Vous vous inspirez toujours d'une idée, et c'est cela qui fait votre force.

Freely translated: You're a devotee of the old masters. From them you have taken the solidity of the medium, the honesty of the drawing, the innocence of nature, the shimmer of colors, the envelopment of light. You are always inspired by an idea, and that is your strength.

Maisonneuve also quotes from a letter he received from Hall the previous summer. In it, Hall describes his artistic ambitions: Surtout, mon cher ami, ne jamais vous contenter de l'à-peu-près. J'ai horreur de l'à-peu-près. Qu'est-ce qu'un chef-d'œuvre? C'est une chose parfaite sous tous les rapports. Il faut toujours viser à faire une chose parfaite, et, alors, on arrive quelquefois à faire quelque chose de passable, en se donnant énormément de mal.

Freely translated: Above all, my dear friend, never settle for anything less than the best. I loathe understatement. What is a masterpiece? It's something that's perfect in every way. You must always aim to make something perfect, and then, sometimes, you manage to make something passable, by putting a lot of effort into it.

List of works

The exhibition Exposition des œuvres du peintre Richard Hall featured a total of 92 paintings, making it a fairly extensive private exhibition. The works included genre painting, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and pastels. As was common at the time, the list of works only mentions the title, owner, and possible price of each work. The years of production or dimensions of the works are not given, and there are no pictures of the works. These factors make it difficult to identify the paintings. However, the exhibition catalog does identify some familiar works that have been exhibited in Paris salons.

Buveur d’absinthe (Absinthe drinker)

Hand-drawn copy of the original painting
Source: Catalogue illustré du Salon de Paris 1896

Everyday life

In terms of quantity, the exhibition featured 38 genre paintings depicting everyday life. Most of them were for sale, 13 were privately owned, and one belonged to the state art collection. The work in question is La Classe Manuelle, which at the time had been loaned from the Rennes Art Museum. I have discussed La Classe Manuelle in my blog post Paintings from Brittany.

Based on their titles, at least nine of the works depicted Trappist monks, such as Moines Trappistes portant des cierges en procession [effet de lumière] (Trappist Monks Carrying Candles in Procession [Light Effect]), Moines Trappistes au lutrin [effet de lampe] (Trappist monks at lecterns [lamp light]) and La Bibliothécaire [Religieux Trappiste] (The Librarian [Trappist monk]). They were probably all painted at the Melleray monastery. All of the works depicting monks were for sale.

The works exhibited in the Paris salons were La fille du cabaretier (The Cabaret Owner's Daughter), Buveur d’absinthe (Absinthe Drinker) and Partie des cartes [Finistère] (Dealing Cards [Finistère]). The most valuable works on sale at the exhibition were Retour des champs [Finistère] (Return from the Fields [Finistère]) and La Charité à la porte. - Abbaye de Meilleraye [Loire-Inférieure] (Charity at the Gate. - Meilleraye Abbey [Loire-Inférieure]). The paintings were priced at 5,000 and 4,000 francs. It would be interesting to find these works, which were probably quite large and considered important by the artist.

Portraits

The second most numerous category in the exhibition was portraits, with 34 pieces on display. None of the portraits were for sale. This is logical, as they are usually painted on commission. The catalog of works indicates that 18 portraits were owned by people living in Nantes. Hall had therefore already established himself as a portrait painter in the city. Six portraits were owned by people from Paris, and there were also works depicting members of the artist's family. The place of residence of the owner is not mentioned for some of the portraits.

The titles of the portraits suggest that they depicted babies, children, and adults. There were also a few anonymous portraits, titled Portrait d'un officier anglais (Portrait of an English Officer) and Etude pour un portrait style Empire (Study for an Empire-style Portrait).

Landscapes and still lifes

The exhibition featured eight landscape paintings. These are the first landscapes painted by Hall that I have found to date. Four of the landscapes were painted in Melleray: three of them depicted a pond in the morning or evening, and there was also a sketch depicting a monastery. There were four still lifes on display. They depicted oysters, shrimp, apples, and raisins. Judging by their prices, the landscapes and still lifes were relatively small paintings, as they cost between 75 and 400 francs.

There were five pastel paintings on display. Two of them depicted monks at the Melleray monastery and one depicted its pond. There was also one poster and a portrait of a young African hunter, Portrait d'un jeune chasseur d'Afrique. In addition, five works have been added to the end of the list of works: two portraits and two paintings of the monastery, as well as a study depicting the harvest.

Conclusion

The list of works suggests that genre paintings and portraits were Hall's main area of expertise. These were the most numerous in the exhibition, and the prices of the genre paintings were the highest in the catalog. By the time of the exhibition, Hall had already established himself as the portraitist of the people of Nantes, as they were immortalized in more than half of the portraits on display. In addition, according to the catalog, many of the genre paintings were owned by people living in Nantes.

The Melleray monastery must have been an important place for the artist, as several paintings made there were on display at the exhibition. On the other hand, almost all of the paintings made at the monastery were for sale. Painting portraits seems to have been an important source of income for the artist and enabled him to work more freely with other topics.