Hayley Lever (1876-1958) Australian
Birthplace/Origin: Adelaide, Australia
Biography/Statement:
Born in Adelaide, Australia, Hayley Lever was known for his town-shore landscapes and still-life painting in a style that combined impressionism with vivid colors and strong lines of realism—post impressionism. In his use of color, he was deeply influenced by Vincent Van Gogh. He freely explored numerous styles based on impressionism but was never locked into any particular style.
He showed early art talent and traveled to England in 1893. He studied art in London and then painted at an artists’ colony in Cornwall on the seacoast of St. Ives where he began his seacoast paintings. He received much attention in Europe for these works. In 1908, he did a series of paintings called “Van Gogh’s Hospital, Holland” expressing the profound influence he felt of that artist.
Lever came to America in 1911, encouraged by American artist Ernest Lawson whom he knew in France, and was soon counted among the most widely exhibited artists in New York City. Many of his scenes were of Manhattan. He had a summer studio in Gloucester, Massachusetts and from 1919 to 1931 taught at the Art Students League in New York City. He also became Director of the Studio Art Club in Mount Vernon, New York.
Examples of Lever’s work can be found in major collections throughout the United States, including the Dallas Museum of Art; the Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan; the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey; the Nantucket Historical Association, Massachusetts; the New Britain Museum of Art, Connecticut; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Academy of Design, New York; the National Arts Club, New York; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York; and Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut.