In the Footsteps of painter Richard Hall

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...

Richard Hall in his Paris studio. Undated photograph Source:  Hall Richard Pintor [1930s–1960s], British Library I’ve previously reviewed Richard Hall’s earlier residences in France in the blog post Places of residence 1883–1900 . In 1900, Hall returned permanently from Brittany, and his address was solely in Paris at Avenue Victor-Hugo 43. Once again, I’ve consulted the Musée d’Orsay’s database on the Paris Salons , which lists the artist’s addresses up to 1914. That year also marks the final exhibition for which digitized Salon records are available online. Breakthrough in Paris Hall’s career as a portrait painter took off in May 1901, when he held an exhibition at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. The show, which featured portraits among other works, received extensive coverage in the French press and attracted a large audience. Following this exhibition, Hall became a sought-after portraitist. It appears that after 1901, he painted portraits during all his travels—which were num...