234 Portrait of Frances Wyly Hall

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2015 Apr 11 @ 15:03UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Western Americana
Auction Currency USD
Start Price NA
Estimated at 5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
Portrait of Frances Wyly Hall
Artist: Critcher, CatherineDate of Birth: 1868-1964
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 20 x 17
Signed: Signed lower right

Though Catherine Critcher was a daughter of an old Virginia family, she was a tough self starter in every sense of the word, eschewing college for art school, then founding art schools herself to fund her career. The only woman elected to the Taos Society of Artists, she is perhaps best known for her sensitive approach to portraying Indians of the pueblos. But this portrait, of young Floridian Frances Wyly Hall, has a certain no nonsense air of its own. Despite the diaphanous dress and page boy haircut, HallÕs eyes and mouth dare anyone to approach and utter a frivolous thought. Like Critcher, Hall was an artist, but she was a writer as well, and the list of titles she wrote and illustrated records her passion for the flora and fauna of Florida: Palms and Flowers of Florida, Shells of the Florida Coasts, Birds of Florida, Fish and Fishing in Florida and (my favorite) Be Careful in Florida, Know These Poisonous Snakes and Insects. HallÕs guidebooks and pamphlets were very popular and are very collectible.