There is not a great deal known about Anne Marie Hall. The first accounts begin in 1967, when at the age of twenty-two she drifted into the orbit of John Perceval – a highly successful artist twice her age, Australia’s “Vincent Van Gogh” and her future husband. Anne was on the cusp of her first exhibition at South Yarra Gallery.
Even at that young age, Anne’s work was striking. She is considered the last remaining Figurative Expressionist, an art movement associated with the Heide School, which included Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd and Joy Hester, among others. Anne’s contribution to the movement is feminine, brutal, twisted, cute and searing – a molten nexus of originality, talent, insight and daring.
'Wild-Eyed Dancer'
“If you want to know whatever happened to the Antipodean Movement in Australian figurative art, you can see the heir to that group in Anne Hall. She shares much of their anguished expressionism and tortured compassion.”
– Patrick McCaughey, art critic
'The Biscuit Barrel'
The Meeting of Art & Life
After her initial exhibition at South Yarra Gallery, Anne had follow up shows at Sydney’s Holdsworth Gallery in 1970, the Bonython Art Gallery in 1971 and again at South Yarra Gallery that same year. In 1975 a retrospective of her work was staged at Avant Galleries.
During this period she married Perceval. Not only his wife, she was also his creative partner assisting on his major painting ‘Veronica and the Conspirators’ based on Dutch Master Hieronymus Bosch’s acclaimed work ‘Christ Carrying the Cross’. In her role, Hall copied the right corner of the Bosch painting — a contribution that art historian Margaret Plant identifies as intrinsic to the work’s value, writing “The paint is urgent, raised up more thickly, more lurid and hectic than in any other Perceval painting.”
'The Young Punks (Diptych)'
Like so many from that era, Anne’s life was tough. For four years of their marriage, Perceval was hospitalised for schizophrenia – the other six were deeply affected by his alcoholism. The couple divorced in 1981 after he was admitted into Larundel Psychiatric Hospital.
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 the era’s issues with gender parity. Placed against her Figurative Expressionist peers, Anne’s paintings still stand. They are searing, strange, otherworldly and commanding, insights into how people live, think, writhe and dance through life.
This year, the National Gallery of Victoria joined the National Gallery of Australia, Ian Potter Museum and Geelong Gallery in collecting her work. They follow a growing band of bold collectors.
Explore our full Anne Marie Hall collection here.