Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

painter chiefly of landscape, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. Born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, she was educated Dunedin School of Art, then became an art teacher, earning money to study in England. A

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

artist, hallmarks such as abstracted, simplified forms and a strong emphasis on colour values and relationships. She was considered to be a key figure in British Modernism, also considered one of New Zealand's most prestigious and influential painters. However, it is the work from her life in Europe, rather than her home country, on which her reputation rests.

Early life and education

Hodgkins was born in

, New Zealand, in 1869, the daughter of Rachel Owen Parker and W. M. Hodgkins, a lawyer, amateur painter, and a leading figure in the city's art circles. As a girl she and her sister,

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th c ...

(later Field) attended Braemar House, a private girls' secondary school; both sisters demonstrated artistic talent early on and each became a successful landscape painter in her own right. Hodgkins first exhibited rural genre scenes and portraits in 1890 at art societies in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and Dunedin. In 1893, she became a student of Girolamo Nerli and painted numerous studies of female sitters, one of which earned her the New Zealand Academy of Arts' prize for painting from life in 1895 (''Head of an Old Woman''). Hodgkin's portraits of Māori are, like many by Ellen von Meyern and Gottfried Lindauer, associated with symbolic portraits of demure females with or without a child. In 1895–96 she attended the Dunedin School of Art and subsequently became an art teacher, earning money to study in England.

Career

In 1901, Hodgkins left New Zealand for Europe, enrolling in art school in London but also travelling and painting in France, the Netherlands, Italy and Morocco in the company of friend and fellow artist Dorothy Kate Richmond; whom she described as "the dearest woman with the most beautiful face and expression. I am a lucky beggar to have her as a travelling companion." While in Britain she intermittently met up with Margaret Stoddart, another expatriate artist. In 1903, one of Hodgkins' watercolours from this period (''Fatima'') became the first work by a New Zealander to be hung "on the line" at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Frances Hodgkins and William Field

She returned to New Zealand in 1903 and established a teaching studio in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, where she held a joint exhibition with Richmond in 1904. Among her pupils was Edith Kate Bendall, lover of

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the Literary modernism, modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world and have been ...

. In the same year Hodgkins became engaged to a British man, T. Boughton Wilby, but the engagement was broken off and she returned to London in 1906 to pursue her artistic career. In Europe, Hodgkins held her first solo show at the Paterson's Gallery in London in 1907 and moved to Paris in 1908. In 1910 she began teaching in Paris at Colarossi's academy as the first woman to be appointed instructor in the school. She also founded the School for Water Colour. During this time she exhibited numerous watercolours at the Paris salon and came in contact with Canadian artist, Emily Carr, whom she taught while working on seascapes at Concarneau in Brittany. During World War I she spent some time in Zennor, Cornwall, where she worked with the Swansea painter,

Cedric Morris Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris, 9th Baronet (11 December 1889 – 8 February 1982) was a British artist, Visual arts education, art teacher and plantsman. He was born in Swansea in South Wales, but worked mainly in East Anglia. As an artist he is be ...

, who painted her portrait in 1917. She herself began to paint in oils in 1915. In 1919, after the War, she went to France, where she was influenced by Matisse and Derain, but developed her own highly personal style, which made a strong impact at her one-person show in London at the Claridge Gallery in 1928. While in France she visited Nice in 1924 and there met Margaret Butler, a notable New Zealand sculptor. In 1925, Hodgkins started work as a fabric designer at the

Calico Printers' Association The Calico Printers' Association Ltd was a British textile company founded in 1899, from the amalgamation of 46 textile printing companies and 13 textile merchants. The industry had prospered in the latter half of the 19th century but the fierc ...

(CPA) in Manchester and during her employment visited the ''Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs'' in Paris. From the late 1920s on her style came to embrace modernist hallmarks such as abstracted, simplified forms and a strong emphasis on colour values and relationships. Although she continued to paint people, her work from this period also evidences an interest in fusing conventions of landscape with still life painting. In 1929 she joined the Seven and Five Society and worked alongside younger artists including Barbara Hepworth,

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...

and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

. In 1930, she "goaded" her friend Lucy Wertheim into opening her gallery in London to exhibit "artists who had not yet arrived". During the 1930s Hodgkins exhibited with many important London galleries and gained a contract from the Lefevre Gallery to produce work for a full-scale exhibition every second year. In 1931 she became a painting companion of fellow New Zealand artist Maude Burge and painted still lifes at Burge's Villa in the garden terrace.

Saint-Tropez Saint-Tropez ( , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var departments of France, department and the regions of France, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southern France. It is west of Nice and east of Marseille, o ...

. Her experimentation with mixing artistic genres continued, resulting in paintings that conflate still life with self-portraiture to sidestep physical appearance in self-representation. In 1939 she was invited to represent Britain at the 1940 Venice Biennale, but wartime travel restrictions meant that her work could not be transported to Venice. She was highly regarded by British avant-garde society and in the later stages of her career was known as a key figure in British Modernism. Because of World War II she spent the rest of her life in Britain. She continued to paint into her seventies, despite suffering from rheumatism and bronchitis. She died in

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on 13 May 1947. When she died she was regarded as one of Britain's leading artists. After her death her close friend and fellow artist Amy Krauss, boxed up the possessions from her studio and arranged for her ashes to be returned to New Zealand. In 1948 Myfanwy Evans (later Piper) wrote a concise book entitled ''Frances Hodgkins'', as part of the 'Penguin Modern Painters' series, and the two were the only woman author and woman artist in the series of eighteen books. The

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...

finally accepted the watercolour ''

Pleasure Garden A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, b ...

'' into the collection of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in 1951. The painting had been offered and refused in 1948 and was the subject of considerable controversy over the intervening years.

Fellowship

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, established in 1962 at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

in Dunedin, New Zealand, is named after her.

Works in collections

The Dunedin Public Art Gallery, in Dunedin, New Zealand, contains a major collection of almost sixty of Hodgkins' works, and has a dedicated gallery space which displays works by Hodgkins, often alongside works by her contemporaries.Dunedin Public Art Gallery: Frances Hodgkins – Kaleidoscope
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Gallery

File:Frances Hodgkins Still Life Eggs, Tomatoes and Mushrooms.jpg, ''Still life eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms'' File:Frances Hodgkins Spanish Peasants.jpg, ''Spanish peasants'' File:Frances Hodgkins Mrs Hellyer.jpg, ''Mrs. Hellyer'' File:Frances Hodgkins Flowers in a Vase.jpg, ''Flowers in a vase'' File:Frances Hodgkins Cheviot Farm.jpg, ''Cheviot farm'' File:Portrait of Kitty West - Frances Hodgkins.jpg, Portrait of Kitty West 1939

Notes

References

External links

*
Biography
in 1966 ''

An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand ''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'' is an official encyclopaedia about New Zealand, published in three volumes by the New Zealand Government in 1966. Edited by Alexander Hare McLintock, the parliamentary historian, assisted by two others, it ...

''
Notes by Una Platts

New Zealand exhibition catalogue

Frances Hodgkins (Eiderdown Books)

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki: Works by Frances Hodgkins

The Complete Francis Hodgkins by the Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tāmaki

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa: Frances Hodgkins

* ttps://assets.aucklandartgallery.com/assets/media/1969-frances-hodgkins-a-centenary-exhibition-catalogue.pdf Centenary exhibition catalogue, 1969 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgkins, Frances 1869 births 1947 deaths St Ives artists Artists from Dunedin 19th-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand painters People educated at Columba College New Zealand expatriates in England 20th-century New Zealand women painters Hodgkins–Field family 19th-century New Zealand women painters Women's Art Register artists