Carl Hall was born in 1921 in Washington, D.C. A master painter in his youth, his early successes included paintings purchased by the Detroit Institute of Arts (1941), the Whitney Museum of American Art (1947) and the Portland Art Museum (1949). He had a solo exhibit in a prestigious New York gallery (1947). His works were also featured in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC (1941) and the Art Institute of Chicago (1941), as well as in the Carnegie Institute (1948,1949).
He settled in Salem, Oregon after World War II and taught in Willamette University's art department from 1947 until his retirement in 1986. In 1948, a feature in Life magazine brought national attention to his work. Willamette University's Hallie Ford Museum of Art established the Carl Hall Gallery of Pacific Northwest Art in 1998.
Although best known for his landscapes of the Willamette Valley and the Oregon coast, during the 1970s Hall focused his artistic study on rendering the female nude in large and small oil paintings, as well as delicate figure drawings.
Though born in Washington D.C., Hall was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He was the oldest child of a large working-class family. His artistic caliber showed promise from an early age. While in high school, Hall was awarded a scholarship at the prestigious Meinzinger Art School and studied under the mentorship of Havana-born painter Carlos Lopez (1908-1953).
Hall interrupted his artistic career when drafted into the army as an infantryman in 1942 and was initially stationed in Oregon. After the end of World War II, Hall returned to Oregon permanently. He began teaching part-time in the art department at Willamette University (WU) in 1947 and later received a full-time artist-in-residence. He eventually attained regular faculty status and received national recognition in March of 1948 when Life magazine featured an article about his work, calling him a "magic realist." Hall continued teaching drawing and painting as a faculty member at Willamette University until 1986.