Anne Hall was part of the Heide circle, of which Charles Blackman, Sidney Nolan and Hall’s husband John Perceval were also members. Like them, she pursued a Figurative Expressionist style, smudging the objective and subjective. In a way particular to her however, Hall cut to the nucleus of her subject, bearing their soul in all its beauty and pain.

In this work, Hall presents an intense portrait. Painted in deep reds, purple and black, there is something bruised, burnt and buried here. Rather than likeness, she draws out her subject’s emotional reality. What is even more intriguing, is that this work bears another portrait on its verso. Washed in lilac, this the red face’s counterpart – cooled, slight yet equally compelling. Who are we beneath the faces we wear?

Like Joy Hester and Mirka Mora, Hall forged a compelling female voice in an otherwise male dominated space. That her career was at times overshadowed by her marriage is a testament to Modernism’s issues with gender parity. Now, collected by The National Gallery of Australia, the Ian Potter Museum and Geelong Gallery, her absence is being redressed. For collectors of Modernist Australian art and those hankering after a unique insight into the Antipodean movement, Hall is a vital find.
 

Further reading:

  
Anne Marie HALL (1945 - )
'Untitled (Sides of the Same Soul)' 1960s
mixed media on paper
Image Size: 38 x 28 cm

 
Condition:  Very good
 
© The Artist or Assignee