In the Footsteps of painter Richard Hall

Huber's house at the corner of Yrjönkatu and Hallituskatu in Pori, Finland, photographed in 1898.  Photo: Edward Hall, Satakunta Museum The Hall family moved several times during Richard Hall's childhood. The key sources for this post are parish records and an interview Richard Hall gave to the New Suometar newspaper in 1909 apparently in Finnish. In the interview, he also spoke about his childhood years.  The most accurate information about the dates of the family's moves is available from parish registers, which record the dates of the moves. The parish registers are regional, so in this case I have requested the certificates from two parishes. The registers are heavily used by genealogists, and there is a charge for the certificates. EU privacy regulation GDPR does not apply to deceased persons. Early childhood in Pori Richard's older brother Edward was born on 31 August 1857, and the family moved to Pori on 19 December 1859. Richard was born five months later on 1...

  Jenny Nyström: Gustav Vasa as a child in front of king Hans, 1881 Oil painting Kalmar county museum Photo: Wikimedia Commons In my previous blog post, I told about the royal medal Richard Hall won while studying at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. The theme of the history painting competition was Gustav Vasa as a child in front of King Hans (also known as King John), and the first prize was shared between Hall and Jenny Nyström (1854-1946). In this article I discuss the content of the winning works and the role of history painting in Sweden at that time. Jenny Nyström's winning work is discussed in the Konsthistoriepodden podcast in Swedish by Alexandra Fried and Alexandra Herlitz, which is the main source for this article. I have not yet found sources for Hall's version. The Finnish press apparently did not report Hall's victory, as the National Library's digital newspaper archive does not contain any mention of the prize. Maria Görts discusses the role of ...

Photograph of Richard Hall's painting Gustav Vasa as a child in front of King Hans, 1881. Photo: correspondence of Mauri R. Hall, Pori Art Museum archive   I have written about Richard Hall's time as a student in the blog post Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts . In it, he tells of winning the Royal Prize Medal in his final year of study. The medal was the highest state award for a graduating student. On the other hand, by the time the prize was awarded in 1881, there were already signs of protest among young artists against the old-fashioned way of teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts. The main source for this article is Maria Görts' doctoral thesis Det sköna i verklighetens värld: akademisk konstsyn i Sverige under senare delen av 1800-talet , 1999 ( Beauty and the world of reality: Academic Aesthetic Attitudes in Sweden during the late Ninteeth Century). Shared first prize The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts organised the Royal Medal competition in 1881. The theme wa...

  Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, model school in 1874. Engraving by H. Peterson in the Ny Illustrerad Tidning. Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Richard Hall was admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 15 in 1875. He studied there for six years, graduating in 1881. Hall's fellow students included artists who went on to have distinguished careers, such as Anders Zorn and Richard Bergh . In the mid-1880s, many of them were part of the Opponenterna group, which rose up against what it perceived as old-fashioned teaching at the academy. So far I have found a few records of Hall's time as a student: firstly, he mentions it in the personal interview I quoted earlier in the Uusi Suometar newspaper of 24. October 1909 . The 1902 edition of Nornan: Svensk kalender contains a chapter by Georg Nordensvan on the students of the Art Academy drawn by Anders Zorn.   Teaching at the Academy of Arts The Swedish Academy of Fine Arts has its roots in the Royal Academ...