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Norma Bassett Hall Art

American, 1889-1957

Norma Bassett Hall was a woodblock printmaker and often depicted landscapes and outdoor scenes. She was one of the founding members of the Prairie Print Makers. Hall was the only woman member of that group and the only one to establish a reputation almost exclusively with color prints. She was born and raised in Halsey, Oregon, on May 21, 1889, and took her first art lessons at the School of the Portland Art Association, where she studied for three years. After graduation, she gave private art lessons. In 1915, she enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago and graduated in 1918. She was an assistant teacher for one year and met her future husband, Arthur William Hall, who was also a student there and whose studies were interrupted by army service in World War I. Hall worked on defense projects in a drafting office after her graduation until the end of the war. In 1920, she returned to Oregon where she opened a studio in Portland and taught in a high school. Two years later she and Arthur were married. Her interest in woodblock printmaking dated from 1922 when she was in Cannon Beach, Oregon, on a honeymoon trip with Arthur. The couple decided to make a pictorial visit of their trip by copying block prints from a book and she saw what she described as the real possibilities of block printmaking. She used the Oriental method, which is the mixing of dry color with water and rice-flour paste. She had a residency in Kansas in 1923 and furthered her interest and skills in color block prints. She and her husband spent two years in Europe, 1925–27, studying and sketching and spending time in London and Edinburgh, Scotland, where she met Mable Royds, married to etcher E.S. Lumsden. From Royds, she learned the Japanese woodcut print method on rice paper involving transparent watercolors, which for Hall was a redirection from opaque oil-based colors. Adopting this approach exclusively for many years, Hall printed with as many as six or seven colors, each requiring a separate hand-cut woodblock. In 1942, the couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where her reputation was established for her block prints of the Southwest, especially New Mexico. After a short time, the couple settled in Alcalde, New Mexico, where the couple continued painting and also opened a summer art school. She began to devote a lot of time to serigraphs of local scenes and also did watercolors. The subjects of the totality of her work reflect the wide travels of the Halls and include Kansas-farm scenes, Oregon landscapes, European scenes and New Mexico pueblos. Hall continued to work and teach from their estate in Santa Fe until her death on May 1, 1957.

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Artist: Norma Bassett Hall
Ship Rock
By Norma Bassett Hall
Located in Santa Monica, CA
NORMA BASSETT HALL (1889 - 1957) SHIP ROCK, c. 1940 Color woodcut signed and numbered in pencil, edition 40 on stiff fibrous paper. 10 x 14 inches, Sheet size 11 1/8 x 15 inches...
Category

1940s American Modern Norma Bassett Hall Art

Materials

Woodcut

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Norma Bassett Hall "Bridge Through The Aspens" (1889-1957) New Mexico Artist Image Size: 14.5 x 19 Frame Size: 20.5 x 25 Medium: Watercolor Circa 1930s "Bridge Through the Aspens" Biography Norma Bassett Hall (1889-1957) Most remembered as a woodblock printmaker and one of the founding members of the Prairie Printmakers, Norma Bassett Hall was the only woman member of that group and the only one to establish a reputation almost exclusively with color prints. She was born and raised in Halsey, Oregon, and took her first art lessons at the School of the Portland Art Association, where she studied for three years. After graduation, she gave private art lessons. In 1915, she enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 1918. There she was an assistant teacher for one year and met her future husband, Arthur William Hall, who was also a student there and whose studies were interrupted by army service in World War I. Norma Hall...
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Norma Bassett Hall art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Norma Bassett Hall art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Norma Bassett Hall in woodcut print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1940s and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Norma Bassett Hall art, so small editions measuring 14 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Gordon Grant, Thomas Hart Benton, and Clifford Isaac Addams. Norma Bassett Hall art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at £3,213 and tops out at £3,213, while the average work can sell for £3,213.

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