Western painter Hale William Bolton was born in Fredericksburg, Iowa, September 27, 1879, and was a young man of forty-one when he died in Rusk, Texas in 1920. Bolton was buried in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in Stuttgart, Arkansas, moving, at the age of seventeen, to Honey Grove, Texas in 1896. Bolton's teachers included Frank Reaugh in Dallas, with whom he would later go on painting trips to the western part of Texas in 1916-1917. Bolton also studied with Paul Abram and William Rueloup in Paris, France, and William Orowelt in Holland. Prior to his European studies, in 1910-1913, Bolton received some art education in St. Louis at Washington University, from 1909-1910.

While working in both oil and pastel as an artist, Bolton was often employed as a piano tuner in order to earn his living. He early worked for the Jesse French Piano and Organ Company in Dallas; and after 1914 with the Dallas Piano Works. He lived for approximately one year in California, returning to Texas in 1917. He received a grand prize from the California Society of Art shortly before he died. He was a member of the American Federation of Arts. His work is in the Capitol Historical Artifact Collection, in Austin, Texas.

During his lifetime, Bolton exhibited his work in the Tri-State Exhibition, in Memphis, Tennessee, winning gold medals in 1907, 1910 and 1913. He also exhibited at the Galveston Cotton Carnival Annual Exhibition, in Texas, winning a medal in 1915; as well as the Annual Texas Artists Exhibition, Fort Worth, in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1919; the Annual Exhibition of Texas Artists, Dallas Woman's Forum, in 1918 and 1920, winning a medal in 1916; and the Annual Exhibition of the State Fair of Texas, Dallas, in 1920.

After his death, Bolton's paintings were exhibited in the Annual Exhibition of the State Fair of Texas, in 1921; Annual Texas Artists Exhibition, 1922; and more recently at the 1991 Longview Museum and Arts Center exhibition, "Survey of Texas Artists, 1890-1990;" the 1994 Waco Art Center show, "Images of Texas, 1880-1950;" and "Painting in Dallas," at McKinney Avenue Contemporary Art, Dallas, in 1999.

Source:
Deborah and John Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors, and Graphic Artists"
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/print/BB/fbo96.html

Hale William Bolton was born in Fredericksburg, IA. Bolton studied at the St Louis School of Fine Arts, in Holland and France. He was a resident of Los Angeles and Dallas, TX until his demise in the latter in 1920. Awards: gold medals, Memphis, 1907, 1910; bronze medal, Galveston, 1915; gold medal, Dallas, 1916.

Artist Hale Bolton was born in Fredericksburg, Iowa in 1879. He grew up in Stuttgart, Arkansas and moved to Honey Grove, Texas in 1896. Bolton's teachers included Frank Reaugh in Dallas, with whom he would later go on painting trips with to West Texas from 1916-1917. Bolton also studied with Paul Abram and William Rueloup in Paris, France, and William Orowelt in Holland. Prior to his European studies, in 1910-1913, Bolton received some art education in St. Louis at Washington University, from 1909-1910. He lived for approximately one year in California, returning to Texas in 1917. He received a grand prize from the California Society of Art shortly before he died. He was a member of the American Federation of Arts. His work is in the Capitol Historical Artifact Collection in Austin, Texas.