(1880–1935)
Hallie Elizabeth Champlin was born in 1880 in St. Louis, Missouri. The daughter of Henry “Harry” Clay Champlin and Susan Isabella Champlin, Hallie started her young adult years as a tennis player.
In October of 1904, Hallie married Edward Breckenridge Hyde. At around this time, her artistic career began when she enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1907, after graduating from the Institute, Hallie moved abroad to Paris, where she continued her training at the Blanche. Hallie remained in Paris for three years, during which time her paintings were exhibited at the Paris Salon.
In March of 1910, Hallie returned to the United States on the S.S. Amerika from Charbourg, France. In October of 1912, Hallie married Warden H. Fenton at her parents’ house in Chicago. In the years that followed, Hallie, now known as Hallie C. Fenton, received awards for her work in portraiture and life painting. The Fentons continued to travel abroad, but their main residence was in Bronxville, New York. Hallie Champlin-Hyde Fenton was a member of the National Academy of Design and the National Association of Women Painters. In addition to the Paris Salon, she exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts during her career.
