Lee Hall (artist) explained

Lee Hall
Office:13th President of the Rhode Island School of Design
Termend:June 30, 1983
Termstart:1975
Succeeded:Thomas F. Schutte
Preceded:Talbot Rantoul
Birth Date:15 December 1934
Birth Place:Lexington, North Carolina, U.S.
Death Place:Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma Mater:University of North Carolina at Greensboro,
New York University
Education:Warburg Institute
Occupation:Painter, writer, educator, university president

Lee Hall (December 15, 1934 – April 17, 2017) was an American painter, writer, educator, and a university president.[1] She was an abstract landscape painter.[2] She served as the 13th president of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 1993, Hall wrote a controversial book on the artists Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning.[3] [4]

Early life and education

Lee Hall was born on December 15, 1934, in Lexington, North Carolina.[5] Her parents divorced when she was young and her early childhood was spent in Florida.

She attended the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, in Greensboro (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and received a BFA degree in 1955. She had studied under painter John Opper. She continued her studies at New York University and received a MA degree in art education in 1959, followed by a PhD in creative arts in 1965. She did postdoctoral work at Warburg Institute.

Art career

Hall was an abstract landscape painter.[6] Early in her career she formed relationships with painters Elaine and Willem de Kooning, and art dealer Betty Parsons.[7] She had exhibited her paintings alongside Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Robert Motherwell. For many years she had maintained her painting studio on a farm in Lyme, Connecticut.

Lee’s art is held in many museum collections including the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Montclair Art Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Newark Museum of Art, the Hudson River Museum, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, and the Mint Museum.

Teaching and arts administration

Hall taught at State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam) from 1958 until 1960; she was an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Art at Keuka College from 1960 until 1962; she taught at Winthrop College (now Winthrop University) from 1962 until 1965; and served as Chair of the Department of Art at Drew University from 1965 until 1974.[8] [9]

From 1975 until 1983, Hall served as the 13th President of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. During her tenure at RISD Hall was part of the effort to introduce the first computer system for the administration, she was in leadership during the unionization of the faculty, she worked to revise the faculty manual, and to restructure the financial administration.[10] On June 30, 1983, Hall stepped down from her role as president of RISD and she was succeeded by Thomas F. Schutte.

Later career

After RISD, Hall became a partner in the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City as well as joined the Academy for Educational Development (AED) the following year.[11]

In 1993, Hall released the book Elaine and Bill, Portrait of a Marriage: The Lives of Willem and Elaine de Kooning (1993, HarperCollins) which was highly debated amongst artists and caused controversy due to the portrayal of Elaine de Kooning as "a sexual predator".

Hall died of stomach cancer on April 17, 2017, in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Publications

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hopkins . Lorraine . Turbulent times at RISD, an embattled leader and a tantalizing footnote . 2022-04-04 . . en-US. 2015-02-15.
  2. Web site: May 17, 2017 . Lee Hall (1934–2017) . 2022-04-04 . Artforum.com . en-US.
  3. News: Clavin . Thomas . 1993-08-08 . De Kooning Book Enrages Art ColonyDe Kooning Book Enrages Art Colony . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.
  4. News: Katz . Robert . 1993-08-01 . Life in the Abstract . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.
  5. News: Grimes . William . 2017-05-17 . Lee Hall, Artist and de Kooning Biographer, Dies at 82 . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.
  6. News: Russell . John . 1978-05-12 . Art: Young Americans at the Guggenheim . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.
  7. Web site: May 10, 2017 . Lee Hall, 1934 – 2017 . Legacy.com . The Republican.
  8. Web site: Lee Hall records (2.10), Rhode Island School of Design Archives . Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online (RIAMCO).
  9. News: Halasz . Piri . 1974-03-17 . Psychologist's Ideas Turned Into Art Forms . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.
  10. Web site: Franco . Josh T. . 2019-04-25 . Acquisitions: Lee Hall Papers . 2022-04-04 . Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution . en.
  11. News: Ap . 1983-01-27 . School Picks President . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.
  12. News: Clavin . Thomas . 1993-08-08 . Friend of Pollock and de Kooning Refused to Cooperate on Hall Book . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-04-04 . 0362-4331.