Ellen Day Hale (February 11, 1855February 11, 1940) was an American

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter and printmaker from Boston. She studied art in Paris and during her adult life lived in Paris, London and Boston. She exhibited at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

and the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. Hale wrote the book ''History of Art: A Study of the Lives of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, and Albrecht Dürer'' and mentored the next generation of New England female artists, paving the way for widespread acceptance of female artists.

Biography

Early life

Ellen Day Hale was born on February 11, 1855 in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, into an elite

Boston Brahmin The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonis ...

family. Hale's father was author and orator

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as "The Man Without a Country", published in ''Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union dur ...

, and her mother was Emily Baldwin Perkins. Although the Hale family was well respected among the Boston upper class, they were not exceptionally wealthy. Her father acted as a Unitarian chaplain in the U.S. Senate from 1904 until his death in 1909, and Hale often assisted her father in his church-related duties. Hale was one of eight children, and she helped her mother and father take care of her younger siblings. From a young age, Hale was raised within an artistic atmosphere, as her mother encouraged her interest in art, and her aunt, watercolorist

Susan Hale Susan Hale (December 5, 1833 – September 17, 1910) was an American author, traveler and artist. She devoted herself entirely to the art of painting in watercolors which she studied under English, French and German masters. Hale traveled extensi ...

, most likely provided her first artistic instruction.Angelilli, Claire.
Inked Impressions: Ellen Day Hale and the Painter-etcher Movement: January 26 - April 14, 2007
'. Carlisle, PA: Trout Gallery, Dickenson College, 2007. Print. Retrieved 10 February 2016. Her brother was

Philip Leslie Hale Philip Leslie Hale (1865–1931) was an American Impressionism, American Impressionist artist, writer and teacher. His work was part of the Art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics#Painting, painting event in the Art competitions at the 1932 ...

, a celebrated artist and art critic, and he married

Lilian Westcott Hale Lilian Westcott Hale (December 7, 1880 in Bridgeport, Connecticut – November 3, 1963 in Saint Paul, Minnesota) was an American Impressionist painter. Biography According to the 1880 original Bridgeport archival records at the Connecticu ...

, an Impressionist painter. Hale's family background provided her with a network of strong female role models. Her great-aunt was

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...

, abolitionist and author of the anti-slavery novel ''

Uncle Tom's Cabin ''Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly'' is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in two volumes in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U. ...

''. Educator

Catharine Beecher Catharine Esther Beecher (September 6, 1800 – May 12, 1878) was an American educator known for her forthright opinions on female education as well as her vehement support of the many benefits of the incorporation of kindergarten into children's ...

and suffragist

Isabella Beecher Hooker Isabella Beecher Hooker (February 22, 1822 – January 25, 1907) was a leader, lecturer and social activist in the American suffragist movement. Early life Isabella Holmes Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the fifth child and secon ...

were also great-aunts. One of Hale's first cousins was writer and social reformer

Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman (; née Perkins; July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935), also known by her first married name Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was an American humanist, novelist, writer, lecturer, advocate for social reform, and eugenicist. She wa ...

, best known for her short story "

The Yellow Wallpaper "The Yellow Wallpaper" (original title: "The Yellow Wall-paper. A Story") is a short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in '' The New England Magazine''. It is regarded as an important early work ...

Education

In 1873, Hale began her formal art education and training in Boston with painter

William Rimmer William Rimmer (20 February 181620 August 1879) was an American artist born in Liverpool, England. Biography William Rimmer was the son of a French refugee, who emigrated to Nova Scotia, where he was joined by his wife and child in 1818, and ...

. Although the changing cultural and social landscape of Boston provided many new opportunities for women, female students were still segregated from their male counterparts. Therefore, Hale took private lessons from Rimmer, and his instruction focused primarily on drawing and the analysis of anatomy. A year later, Hale enrolled in

William Morris Hunt William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824September 8, 1879) was an American painter. Born into the political Hunt family of Vermont, he trained in Paris with the realist Jean-François Millet and studied under him at the Barbizon artists’ colony, bef ...

's school for painting with approximately forty other women artists. With Hunt, artist Helen M. Knowlton acted as one of the school's main instructors. Hunt and Knowlton encouraged a new style and used unique teaching methods, such as interpretive sketching, which had an important artistic influence on Hale. Knowlton especially promoted a sense of community within the class of female artists, and the group of women relied upon each other, rather than their husbands or other men, for professional and personal support. Seeking additional training, Hale traveled to Philadelphia in 1878 to attend the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Fitzpatrick, Tracy. "Ellen Day Hale: Painting the Self, Fashioning Identity". ''Woman's Art Journal'' 31.1 (2010): 28–34. Web. Retrieved 10 February 2016. Hale attended the Academy while it was directed by

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, who, like William Rimmer, emphasized the study of human anatomy as the basis for figure painting. After studying in Philadelphia, Hale traveled throughout Europe with Knowlton in 1881. The pair visited Belgium, Holland, Italy, England and France, visiting museums and copying paintings, before Hale moved to Paris to begin training with Parisian masters. Hale was one of over one thousand young American artists studying in and around Paris at this time. She quickly enrolled in formal programs, first studying drawing with

Emmanuel Frémiet Emmanuel Frémiet (6 December 182410 September 1910) was a French sculptor. He is famous for his 1874 sculpture of Joan of Arc in Paris (and its "sister" statues in Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon) and the monument to Ferdinand de Lesseps in S ...

at the Jardin des Plantes, and then going on to train at

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

. Hunt and Knowlton's "rather loosely structured school had not prepared Hale for the rigorous teaching style of the Académie Colarossi, where she found the 'general work of the class...neither interesting nor inspiring." In September 1882, Hale traveled to London to study briefly at the

. On returning to Paris, she began training at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

, where she studied for three years. Her instructors included Rudolphe Julian,

Tony Robert-Fleury Tony Robert-Fleury (1 September 18378 December 1911) was a French painter, known primarily for historical scenes. He was also a prominent art teacher, with many famous artists among his students. Biography He was born just outside Paris, and st ...

Jules Joseph Lefebvre Jules Joseph Lefebvre (; 14 March 183624 February 1911) was a French figure painter, educator and theorist. Early life Lefebvre was born in Tournan-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, on 14 March 1836. He entered the École nationale supérieure des Bea ...

, Gustave-Rudolphe Boulanger and

William-Adolphe Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

. Because young women were not admitted to the most prestigious Parisian institutes like the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, they were left with no choice but to enroll in independent academies that charged tuition. Académie Julian followed the practice of most private schools and required women to pay more money than men for lessons. Despite these hardships, Hale preferred Académie Julian to any of the other schools she attended, as she developed a close-knit group of friends who acted as a support system for her. Morning News, by Ellen Day Hale

Personal life

Hale was considered a "

New Woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...

": a successful, highly trained woman artist from the 19th century who never married. Other New Women artists include

Elizabeth Coffin Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin (1850–1930) was an American artist, educator and philanthropist who is known for her paintings of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Well-educated and accomplished, she was one of the "New Women" of the 19th century who exp ...

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

Elizabeth Nourse Elizabeth Nourse (October 26, 1859 – October 8, 1938) was a realist-style genre, portrait, and landscape painter born in Mt. Healthy, Ohio, in the Cincinnati area. She also worked in decorative painting and sculpture. Described by her contempo ...

and

Cecilia Beaux Eliza Cecilia Beaux (May 1, 1855 – September 17, 1942) was an American society portraitist, whose subjects included First Lady Edith Roosevelt, Admiral Sir David Beatty and Georges Clemenceau. Trained in Philadelphia, she went on to study in ...

.Holly Pyne Connor; Newark Museum; Frick Art & Historical Center. ''Off the Pedestal: New Women in the Art of Homer, Chase, and Sargent''. Rutgers University Press; 2006. . p. 25. Although Hale never married, she found a lifelong partner in fellow artist Gabrielle de Veaux Clements, whom she met in 1883. Hale and Clements became close friends in 1885 while they were enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris. While traveling and studying in Europe together, Clements taught Hale how to etch. In 1893, the two artists returned to the United States. They moved into a house near

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...

together and named it "The Thickets". The exact nature of their relationship is uncertain, but during this time, lifelong relationships between women were not uncommon and often referred to as "

Boston marriage A "Boston marriage" was, historically, the cohabitation of two wealthy women, independent of financial support from a man. The term is said to have been in use in New England in the late 19th/early 20th century. Some of these relationships were r ...

s". Hale and Clements' relationship, like other "Boston marriages" of the time, provided the women with personal fulfillment and emotional support as each pursued professional careers as artists. Hale moved to

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

, for two years in the 1890s, perhaps to improve her health after falling ill during her late twenties. In 1904, she moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where she acted as her father's hostess during his time as chaplain for the U.S. Senate.Hirshler, Erica E., Janet L. Comey, and Ellen E. Roberts. ''A Studio of Her Own: Women Artists in Boston, 1870-1940''. Boston: MFA Publications, 2001. Print. Retrieved 11 February 2016. As an unmarried woman, Hale did what was expected of her and devoted herself to the need of her parents. Despite these familial obligations, however, Hale never gave up her passion for art and continued to paint and make etchings for the rest of her life. Hale was a distant cousin of the painter

Margaret Lesley Bush-Brown Margaret White Lesley Bush-Brown (May 19, 1857 – November 16, 1944) was an American painter and etcher. Biography Bush-Brown was a native of Philadelphia, the daughter of geologist Peter Lesley and social reformer Susan Inches Lyman Lesley; he ...

, with whom she visited France and Belgium in 1881. Summer Place, by Ellen Day Hale

Career

Hale was an Impressionist painter, best known for her figure paintings,''Ellen Day Hale''
National Museum of Women in the Arts. February 17, 2014. including many portraits and self-portraits. She made sophisticated, aesthetic paintings with good command of light, shadow and technical skill. She exhibited at the

Boston Art Club The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, serves to help its members, as well as non-members, to access the world of fine art. It currently has more than 250 members. History The Boston Art Club was first conceived in Boston in 1854 with the co ...

in 1876. In Europe, she lived in London and Paris, where she exhibited at

in 1885Kirsten Swinth.
Painting Professionals: Women Artists & the Development of Modern American Art, 1870-1930
'. UNC Press Books; 2001. . p. 63. her paintings ''An Old Retainer'' and ''Un Hiver Americain''. In London's

, she exhibited ''A New England Girl''. In the United States she lived in Boston, and her work is associated with the Boston School. She made increasingly Impressionistic paintings, but like "many of her Boston colleagues, she did not compromise her dedication to painting the human form."''Self-Portrait - Ellen Day Hale.''
Museum of Fine Arts. Retrieved February 17, 2014. Hale was very active in exhibiting her work, but only achieved marginal recognition of her art. From 1918 to 1940, Hale and Clements wintered in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, a city that was experiencing a burgeoning arts renaissance. Hale was fascinated by the local culture, as seen in the work she created during these residencies. She and Clements assisted in the organization of the Charleston Etchers' Club, a group established in 1923 to offer instruction on printmaking, encourage intellectual exchange, art criticism, and exhibition planning. Founding members of the club include

Charleston Renaissance The Charleston Renaissance is a period between World Wars I and II in which the city of Charleston, South Carolina, experienced a boom in the arts as artists, writers, architects, and historical preservationists came together to improve and repres ...

artists

Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Elizabeth O'Neill Verner (December 21, 1883 – April 17, 1979) was an artist, author, lecturer, and preservationist who was one of the leaders of the Charleston Renaissance. She has been called "the best-known woman artist of South Carolina of the ...

, Alfred Hutty, and Alice Ravenel Huger Smith. According to Verner's daughter, Hale and Clements stated: “We want to leave Charleston some of our skills . . . Get together a group so you can buy a press and we will show you how to use it . . . We’ll teach you, so you can teach them.” Hale exhibited her work at the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to ...

at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

in Chicago, Illinois.

Notable works

''Self-Portrait''

Hale began painting her self-portrait in 1884, working on it at her family's home in

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...

and at their summer home in

Matunuck, Rhode Island Matunuck is a village in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States near Charlestown, Rhode Island. The village is located on a point along the southern Atlantic coast of Rhode Island off U.S. Route 1. The village takes its name from a Nati ...

. The painting, ''Self-Portrait'', depicts Hale gazing confidently at the viewer with her right hand dangling slightly over the chair. Dressed in all black, Hale wears a dress with buttons and a fur collar, covered by a loose jacket. Peeking out of a round black hat are Hale's bangs, which at the time were praised as a youthful hairstyle but could also connote promiscuity. Hale seems to be making a fashion statement with her bangs, choice of costume, and the ostrich-feather fan that she holds. When Hale first showed the painting to her instructors in 1885, artist

Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

significantly criticized the size and position of the hand and encouraged Hale to make it "prettier". However, Hale did not make any of the suggested changes to the hand, refusing to conform her work to the idealized, academic notions of beauty. The compositional weight of her hand is also notable because it was extremely rare for artists of any gender to portray themselves looking directly at the viewer without any tools to identify their profession. June by Ellen Day Hale

When Hale exhibited ''Self-Portrait'' in Boston, perhaps for the first time, in 1887, a critic, meaning to compliment her work, described it as displaying "a man's strength in the treatment and handling of her subjects." The

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, where the self-portrait is located, later commented, "Hale's forthright presentation, her strong dark colors, and the direct manner in which she engages the viewer recall the work of one of the French painters she most admired, Edouard Manet. Manet had been known for his confrontational images, strongly painted without subtle nuances of light and shadow." Hale was one of a handful of women of the time, including

and

, who "created compelling self-portraits in which they fearlessly presented themselves as individuals willing to flout social codes and challenge accepted ideas regarding women's place in society. Indeed, the New Women portraits of the 1880s and 1890s are unforgettable interpretations of energetic, self-confident and accomplished women." Hale created and displayed, in her own words, an "original and queer" representation of herself, and this daring assertion of identity marks her approach to the self-portrait as significant.

''June''

Hale's 1893 portrait, ''June'', which depicts a young woman sewing, wearing a bun and a checked dress, is in the collection of the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

Painter-etcher movement

During the nineteenth century, artists such as Hale were instrumental in reviving

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

in America and Europe and restoring the significance of this technical medium. At the forefront of the

Etching Revival The etching revival was the re-emergence and invigoration of etching as an original form of printmaking during the period approximately from 1850 to 1930. The main centres were France, Britain and the United States, but other countries, such as t ...

of Hale's time was artist

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

, who set the standard for new generation of etchers. Clements first introduced Hale to etching while the pair was traveling in Europe. In terms of the etching process, Hale, like her contemporaries, used copper plates to produce clean, well-defined impressions. Hale experimented with a variety of etching techniques, including hard-ground, soft-ground,

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used h ...

, and color inking. In the etching medium, Hale worked on a more intimate basis, using etchings to document her travels through the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. Some of Hale's most accomplished prints include ''The Willow Whistle'', which was produced using hard-ground etching and displayed at the Paris Salon, and ''First Night in Venice'', which used the soft-ground process.

Legacy

Hale played a major role as a mentor for a younger generation of aspiring women artists. She encouraged and gave concrete advice to the next group of New England female artists, cautioning them "against being too influenced by any one of their instructions...a fault common among artists of our sex." Hale not only taught classes for female artists, with Knowlton and on her own, but also hosted informal gatherings where likeminded women could discuss art. Included in this group of young artists was Hale's sister-in-law, Lilian Westcott Hale. Lilian and many other female artists benefited greatly from Hale's support and guidance. Hale died in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton, A ...

, on February 11, 1940, her 85th birthday. Her works were shown in the latter part of the 20th century and early 21st century, in group exhibitions and in solo exhibitions of her work from 1989 to 1990 and in 2013's "Wanderer: Travel Prints by Ellen Day Hale." Hale's legacy is not only in her paintings and etchings but also in the acceptance she helped gain for women artists.

Other works

* ''Early Vegetables, Charleston, S.C.'', Soft ground color etching, ca. 1918''Early Vegetables, Charleston, S.C.''
The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Retrieved February 17, 2014. * ''Lady with a Fan'' * ''An Old Retainer'' * ''A New England Girl'' * ''Beppo''

References

External links

at Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collection *
Self-Portrait
' at

. Gift of Nancy Hale Bowers. *
June
'' at

*
Morning News
'' (Private collection) *
Lilies
' (Private collection) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Ellen Day 1855 births 1940 deaths Artists from Worcester, Massachusetts People from Brookline, Massachusetts Beecher family Painters from Massachusetts American women painters Académie Julian alumni Académie Colarossi alumni 19th-century American painters American women printmakers 19th-century American women artists 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists Charleston Renaissance 20th-century American printmakers Lesbian artists