Robert Beverly Hale (1901–November 14, 1985) was an artist, curator of American paintings at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, and instructor of artistic anatomy at the Art Students League of New York and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. He was also the author of the well-known book ''Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters'', as well as the translator of the classic anatomy text ''Artistic Anatomy'' by Dr.

Paul Richer Paul Marie Louis Pierre Richer (17 January 1849 – 17 December 1933) was a French anatomist, physiologist, sculptor, medallist, and anatomical artist who was a native of Chartres. He was a professor of artistic anatomy at the École nationale s ...

Life and career

Hale was born into a prominent family in Boston, Massachusetts."I Will Never Look at Painting the Same Way Again"
, ''ARTnews''. His grandfather was the clergyman and author

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 ...

(1822-1909). Two of his father's siblings were well known artists: Ellen Day Hale and Philip Leslie Hale. He grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and studied at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he did post-graduate work at the

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

. He also studied at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

under

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...

and William McNulty, and at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

.''Negative Realist''
review of Hale exhibition in ''TIME'', 1960. From 1942 to 1949 Hale worked as Editorial Associate for ''

Art News ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countri ...

'' magazine. A long-time Instructor of Drawing and Lecturer on Anatomy at the Art Students League, and Adjunct Professor of Drawing at Columbia, Hale taught and wrote on the principles of

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

and observation from life, encouraging his students to see and draw forms in nature as the geometric "mass conceptions" of cylinders, cubes, or spheres. His lectures at the League included demonstrations of life-size figure drawings, much as had those of his teacher and predecessor, George Brandt Bridgman.Hale, Robert Beverly, ''Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters''. Watson-Guptill, 1964. Hale joined the staff of the

in New York City in 1948 as the first curator of the department of contemporary American art, a position he held until 1966. Among his other accomplishments, Hale facilitated the Met's acquisition of Jackson Pollock's monumental poured painting '' Autumn Rhythm'', 1950, amid opposition from the museum's trustees. Hale's artwork was featured in one-man shows at the Stamford Museum and at the Staempfli Gallery in New York. In addition to several books on drawing, Hale authored numerous articles, including one on drawing in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'', and an entry on "The History of American Painting" for the ''Grolier Encyclopaedia''. He also had verse and fiction published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' and '' Mademoiselle'' magazines. His careers as instructor, curator, and artist were apt to overlap: according to Hale, "One day in East Hampton

de Kooning Kooning is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Willem de Kooning (1904–1997), Dutch American artist * Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989), American artist {{Short pages monitor