Spring, ca.1927

Oliver Hall RA (1869 - 1957)

RA Collection: Art

Oliver Hall’s Diploma work is representative of the main focus of his artistic career, namely the study and depiction of trees. Hall made hundreds of pencil studies of trees, which he used as a point of departure for his paintings. When these were destroyed by fire his knowledge of trees was such that he was able to continue working from visual memory. He said ‘nothing to me is more fashionable and enjoyable than to stroll out into the byways of an old forest, ruminating on and analysing the beauty of trees, noting their characteristics of form and colour and lines of composition. The play of sunshine and shadow, swept on a day of west wind in March, is very beautiful.' (M. Muncaster, The Wind in the Oak, London 1978, p. 11).