Frances Hodgkins

Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 - 13 May 1947) was a New Zealand abstract painter who lived in England for much of her life.

Life

Hodgkins was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1869, the daughter of W.M. Hodgkins a lawyer, amateur painter and principal figure in the city's art circles. She first exhibited in 1890, although she felt overshadowed by her sister, Isobel.

After early success as a watercolourist she went on to become one of the leading artists of British Modernism. In 1893 she became a student under Girolamo Nerli. In 1895-96 she attended the Dunedin School of Art.

In the early 1900s she travelled and worked in many countries including England, France, Holland and Morocco, returning to Wellington (NZ) in 1903. In 1904 Hodgkins became engaged to an Englishman, T. Boughton Wilby, after the briefest of courtships, and planned to go overseas to marry him, but the engagement was broken off at the last moment for unknown reasons. Dissatisfied with teaching, she returned to London in 1906. Her first solo show was in London in 1907. In 1911-12 she taught at Colarossi's academy in Paris.

Around 1901 she began a friendship with artist Dorothy Kate Richmond (1860-1935), 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." [ [http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bioh3/hodg3.html] ] The two probably met at the studio of painter Girolamo Nerli, an itinerant Italian painter who taught Hodgkins and inspired her first successes. In 1903 she opened her own studio in Wellington, and in 1904 hosted a joint exhibition with Richmond. Among Hodgkins' pupils at her studio were artists Edith Kate Bendall, lesbian lover of Katherine Mansfield. Richmond was a great influence on the art of Hodgkins, although eventually their relationship faded to the point of nonexistence. She would become involved with other women of the time, but none that maintained the lifelong influence of Richmond.

During World War I she spent some time in Zennor Cornwall where she worked with Cedric Morris who painted her portrait in 1917. [ [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=1667 Tate Collection - Cedric Morris] ]

In 1929 she joined the seven and five society and worked alongside younger artists like Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and Henry Moore. She continued to paint into her seventies, despite suffering from rheumatism and bronchitis.

Hodgkins is most admired for the freely painted works of her later life. She died in Dorchester, Dorset, in 1947.

Fellowship

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, established in 1962, is named for her.

References

* "The Expatriate" a biography by E. H. McCormick (1954, New Zealand University Press, Wellington)
* "Frances Hodgkins:a private viewing" by Joanne Drayton (2005, Godwit, Auckland) ISBN 1869621174

External links

* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=2H41 NZDB biography]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/H/HodgkinsFrances/HodgkinsFrances/en Biography in 1966 "Encyclopaedia of New Zealand"]
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-PlaNine-t1-body-d1-d584.html Notes by Una Platts]
* [http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?advanced=colProProductionMakers%3a%22Hodgkins%2c+Frances%22+colCollectionGroup%3aCH Works at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
* [http://www.jonathangrantgalleries.com/exhibition.asp?exb=65 Frances Hodgkins Exhibition Catalogue]