Anne Hall was a late member 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 objective and subjective truths. In a way particular to her however, Hall cut to the nucleus of her subject, bearing their souls.

In ‘Schizophrenic Tart’, Hall sketches a frantically dancing woman. Two women - or the sides of the same woman - are fused, one kicking her heels and the other in boots. Rather than about literal dancing, one could interpret this work as about the identity dance we perform everyday; the psychological impossibility of fulfilling all the roles imposed upon us. Feminist theorist Simone de Beauvoir's quote from an interview in the Paris Review proves pertinent:

“Women are obliged to play at being what they aren’t, to play, for example, at being great courtesans, to fake their personalities. They’re on the brink of neurosis.”

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 rightfully redressed.

For collectors of Modernist Australian art and those hankering after an uncharted view into the Antipodeans, Hall is a vital find.
 

Anne HALL (1945 - )
'Schizophrenic Tart' 1978
charcoal on paper
Image Size: 99 x 70 cm
Dimensions: 125 x 95 x 4 cm
Signed: Signed lower right corner: Anne Hall and titled Schizophrenia Tart and dated 78
Comes with Letter of Provenance
The frame is new and excellent; the work of art is scuffed but in fine working condition
Availability: in stock
Condition:Excellent
© The Artist or Assignee