4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2013.

Sun Bath

Artist Philip Leslie Hale (American, 1865 - 1931)

Date1914

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions36 1/8 x 30 1/8 in. (91.8 x 76.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 40 3/4 × 35 1/8 × 2 7/8 in. (103.5 × 89.2 × 7.3 cm)

ClassificationsAmerican art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.864

Terms

Women
Sisters
gardens
Flowers
White
Green
Purple
Pink
Blue
Black
Boston, MA

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting showing two female figures in flowing white garments in full sunlight against an exterior wall of a house. There is a window in the upper left, a trellis on the right, and a red hollyhock growing between them. One woman stands at left and the other reclines with her head and torso in the lower right corner. On the trellis, a wisteria vine grows.

Label TextPhilip Leslie Hale American, 1865–1931 Sun Bath, 1914 Oil on canvas Drenched in light, the pale dresses of these two young women erupt with rainbows of yellow, orange, purple, and blue. Despite their casual poses, the surrounding flower garden suggests that their feminine beauty is carefully nurtured—the product of a sophisticated education. Philip Leslie Hale and his Boston patrons believed that the pursuit of knowledge and beauty were moral duties for both sexes. Hale’s wife, Lillian Westcott Hale, and his sister, Ellen Day Hale, were also painters, while his cousin Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent writer and feminist. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.864