Book of Verses, 1924
22½ x 28½ inches
Signed upper right: Lilian Westcott Hale
Provenance
The artist
Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts, April 1924, acquired from above
Returned to the artist
Private collection, Dover, Massachusetts
Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts, December 1998
Private collection, New York, New York
Adelson Galleries, New York, New York
Exhibited
(Possibly)Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 23rd Annual Watercolor Exhibition, November 8–December 13, 1925
(Possibly)Concord Art Association, Concord, Massachusetts, 9th Annual Exhibition, May 3–July 1, 1925
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, The Sixth International Watercolor Exhibition, May 3–30, 1926, no. 87
Related Works
Celia’s Arbor, oil on canvas, 22 ¼ x 18 ¾ inches, signed lower left: LILIAN WESTCOTT HALE; The Metropolitan Museum, New York
When She Was a Little Girl, oil on canvas, 36 x 30 3/16 inches; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Note
The Book of Verses exemplifies Lilian Westcott Hale’s refined Likely depicting her teenage daughter Nancy seated by the hearth in their Dedham home, the composition balances sinuous and rectilinear forms within a restrained interior, echoing the New England simplicity that defined Hale’s aesthetic. The subject’s quiet posture and distant gaze, paired with the sparse furnishings, evoke a mood of stillness and nostalgia. Combining the intimacy of maternal observation with the formal rigor of charcoal and pastel technique, this work stands among Hale’s most poignant portrayals of interior life.