John Haley

Name
John Haley
Date of birth
1888
Date of death
1954
Gender
Male
Biography
According to Jonathan Grant Galleries website (3/05/09), details of Haley's life are as follows. We have no artist file, and this information has not been verified.
John HALEY Britain 1888 - 1954 New Zealand

John Haley was a professional artist from Liverpool. After the First World War he and his wife Lily emigrated to New Zealand.

He exhibited with dealer galleries in Auckland and was an exhibiting and working member of the Auckland Society of Arts between 1921 and 1927. In 1936 Haley exhibited an oil painting titled "Castor Bay" at the Seddon Galleries in Melbourne.

Haley is understood to have enjoyed driving around the environs of Auckland in his baby Austin 7, stopping to paint with a watercolour block resting on the steering wheel. He was also known to row around the local coastline sourcing subjects for his paintings.

During the 1930s Haley worked as a salesman for N. A. Suckling Ltd, a signwriting firm. He later set up his own business to produce and sell retail display goods to promote the Queen's visit to New Zealand.

He is also known and remembered by his students at Takapuna Grammar where he taught art.

Haley worked in both watercolours and oils. His early subjects, drawn on his memories of England, are heavily influenced in style of James McNeil Whistler. In 1922 the Auckland Society of Arts he exhibited two of his works which made reference to Whistler by their titles - "Nocturne - The Thames" and "Nocturne - The Fete".

Two of his watercolours hang in the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery."