The Winter 2021 Issue of Art New Zealand featured a four page exhibition review by art writer Richard Wolfe of Frances Hodgkins and Her Circle.
In Frances Hodgkins and Her Circle artworks by Frances Hodgkins were exhibited alongside pieces by her family members, students and artist friends. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue of extensive essays, drawing a map between the many characters whose artistic careers where influenced by Frances Hodgkins and who intern also supported her during he lifetime, including essays on John Piper, Isabel Field, Girolarmo Nerli and Beatrice Seddon.
In his review Richard Wolfe says:
In 2020, 132 years after its public debut, Marguerites was included in an Auckland exhibition celebrating the community of artists centred on Frances Hodgkins. In addition to four works by Hodgkins herself, this selection included 15 by other practitioners, mainly women, who were born in New Zealand and who had a preference for watercolours. All were associated with and supported Hodgkins in various degrees and capacities, collectively representing an extensive network of personal and professional relationships.
Hodgkins died on 13 May 1947, and a month later the English Listener published a tribute by Gorer, who wrote that at the age of 70 she had 'reached the height of her powers', which he believed was an 'unparalleled development in the history of art. A few months earlier she had given him a painting of his cottage, with flowering cherries and pear trees. She expressed her satisfaction with the work, almost the last she completed, noting 'I think I've got it', and then, 'There's growth, and spring, and hope; do you feel it?"
Frances Hodgkins and Her Circle. Jonathan Grant Galleries. October - December 2020.
The online exhibition can still be viewed on the gallery website here.
Copies of Art New Zealand can be ordered here.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Frances Hodgkins birth, Jonathan Grant Galleries curated a selection of works, dating from 1893 – 1945, by the esteemed expatriate artist. The exhibition, A New Zealand Modernist, featured 14 works for sale and an extensively researched exhibition catalogue, written by Jonathan Gooderham & Richard Wolfe.
Frances Mary Hodgkins (1869-1947) is regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading expatriate artists. Her works capture the spirit of an era greatly influenced by Impressionism and the beginnings of en plein air painting, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism and two World Wars. With a professional life that spanned fifty-six years, Hodgkins was one of the foremost artists of her generation. During her time in Britain she became one of the leaders of the English avant-garde movement. She travelled extensively and evolved her style from impressionistic watercolours to striking twentieth-century modernist paintings.
Jonathan Grant Galleries| Frances Hodgkins: A New Zealand Modernist | Thursday 30 May - Monday 24 June 2019
Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys is the culmination of a significant international project to bring together artworks from New Zealand and around the globe to explore the artist’s place in 20th-century art. The exhibition traces Frances Hodgkins’ creative and peripatetic life through France, Morocco and Spain to her final days in England, examining the influence of location on her development as a modernist painter and the notion of travel and journeying as a source of artistic inspiration.
Exhibition curator and Auckland Art Gallery Senior Curator, International Art, Mary Kisler says the exhibition is the result of almost a decade-long research project that saw her retracing Hodgkins’ extensive journeys throughout Europe.
“‘Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys will allow visitors to see what Hodgkins saw, and to understand how place influenced the way she painted. We’ll also share Hodgkins’ artistic development over time, beginning as an avid and excited young artist through to her later life, when she created the best work of her career.”
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki | Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys | Saturday 4 May to Sunday 1 September 2019
— New Zealand residents $14
— New Zealand concessions $12
— Members and Members Guests FREE (with valid Members card)
— Children 12 & under FREE
— International adults (includes Gallery entry) $28
— International concessions (includes Gallery entry) $25
The exhibition, Frances Hodgkins: People, curated by Dr. Pamela Gerrish Nunn explores works by Hodgkins that depicted people; from portraits of friends to busy market scenes.
New Zealand Portrait Gallery
Frances Hodgkins: People
— 16 November 2017 — 14 February 2018
— Admission Free
New Zealand Portrait Gallery - Main Gallery
— 18 November 2017
— 12.30 — 1.30pm
— Admission Free
Grayson Perry, Mad Kid’s Bedroom Wall Pot
A vase by Grayson Perry was the highlight of a new display at Portsmouth Museum covering 200 years of design.
It was the first time that work by the well-known potter, who graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1982, had been on show at the museum.
The exhibition, called Rediscovery: the Decorative Arts in Portsmouth, also featured works from the museum's own collection, including some rarely on view or never shown in public before. It covered design in ceramics, furniture, textiles, decorative tiles, embroidery, sculpture, illustrations, glass and art, including some of the finest examples in Britain.
Significant periods in British design were represented, including the Gothic Revival, the Arts and Crafts movement, the Bloomsbury Group and studio pottery. Artists, designers and craft-makers featured include Vanessa Bell, Dora Carrington, Hans Coper, William De Morgan, Christopher Dresser, Duncan Grant, Frances Hodgkins, Owen Jones, Bernard Leach, Wyndham Lewis, AWN Pugin and Lucie Rie. Influential British manufacturers also feature, including Maw and Co, Martin Brothers, Minton, Pilkington, Royal Doulton and Wedgwood.
Cllr Linda Symes, Portsmouth City Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: "This is a very impressive collection, and it will be wonderful to see these fine objects all in one place. And of course, it's great to have a work by Grayson Perry, who did his fine art degree in the city."
The Grayson Perry vase, Mad Kid’s Bedroom Wall Pot, was on loan from the Crafts Council. The rest of the items will be on permanent display." — Portsmouth News
Portsmouth Museum: Decorative Arts Gallery
Rediscovery: the Decorative Arts in Portsmouth
— On display from 21 October 2017
— Admission Free
Frances Hodgkins San Remo Market, 1902
Watercolour • Private Collection
An Emerging Talent: Early Works by Frances Hodgkins
opened at Mahara Gallery on Saturday 8 April at 5pm. Guest curator Victoria Robson (Curator of European Art at Te Papa) and Les Holborow (Chairman of the Mahara Gallery Trust) was present.
To celebrate Hodgkins' birthday on Friday 28 April, Victoria Robson gave a talk in the gallery at 11am.
An Emerging Talent: Early Works by Frances Hodgkins
9 April — 4 June
— Opening Saturday 8 April at 5pm
— Curator's Talk Friday 28 April at 11am
In 1969 documentary-maker & producer Alwyn Owen commissioned an audio documentary in celebration of Frances Hodgkins' centenary. The documentary was produced by June Opie, who acted as questioner, and featured interviews with Hodgkins' friends and fellow artists, including Elsie Barling, Jane Saunders, Cedric Morris, Geoffrey Gorer & Ben Nicholson.
The audio below is an extract from the recording, featuring the recollections of sculptors Dame Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. Hear them remember her with extraordinary vividness and affection.
Mary Kisler is Senior Curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, caring for a collection that begins in the 13th century and ends mid-20th century. Kisler is a well respected art historian with an enviable knowledge of and a fervent passion for Frances Hodgkins.
Art with Mary Kisler is a semi-regular spot on Radio New Zealand's Saturday programme in which Kisler discusses a theme or subject within the realms of art. Past topics include 'The Egg in Art', Le Corbusier, Californian design, museum extensions and the reopening of the Christchurch Art Gallery.
In June 2015 Kisler discussed Hodgkins' journey across Europe and how the ever-changing landscapes she encountered influenced and directed her style. Listen below.
Last weekend we paid a visit to the Auckland Art Gallery to view Space to Dream: Recent Art From South America - which we highly recommend. Among the Gallery's other intriguing collections is an exhibition dedicated to the "forgotten" still-lifes of Frances Hodgkins.
The exhibition includes oils, watercolours, gouaches and drawings, predominantly of flowers and pottery. Also on display are several photographs of the artist as well as paints and painting utensils. A point of interest is the "texture wall" which allows you to touch a range of surfaces which demonstrate the different techniques, treatments and finishes Hodgkins applied to her paintings.
The exhibition runs until the end of the month so do not miss your chance to view this excellent collection.
Auckland Art Gallery | Frances Hodgkins: Forgotten Still Life | Closes Sunday 31 July 2016
Learn about the working practices of one of New Zealand's most influential artists, Frances Hodgkins, in this revealing exhibition focusing on her unique and adept approach to still-life painting.
Oil on canvas, 60.9 x 50.8 cm
At the exhibition's centre is 'Still Life: Anemones and Hyacinths c1925', which was last shown in 1959 and has recently undergone extensive restoration. Read more about this conservation project in the New Zealand Herald.
Frances Hodgkins, born in 1969 in Dunedin, gained considerable fame in Britain where she settled in 1913. Her work is in the Tate and other major galleries; public galleries here now have considerable collections although as late as 1949 the Art Gallery in Christchurch once refused a gift of a painting because it was too "modern".
The excellent examples of her work gathered in Frances Hodgkins: A Singular Artist at the Jonathan Grant Galleries chart her progress to achieve the originality, vigour and charm that brought her work to prominence overseas.
The earliest painting in the show, Maori Girl in Blue (1899), is a sympathetic watercolour of a thoughtful subject. It is painted wet on wet, giving an effect of immediacy, reinforcing the excellent draughtsmanship of the characterisation.
A jump to 1933 shows the effect of her time spent in Europe. Her contact with Post-Impressionist French painting is apparent in Ibiza. It owes a lot to Dufy in its transparency and spontaneity. She is still using watercolour and the tones are richly blended into unity. not even the sails of a windmill are allowed to break the lively feeling of the expression of a delighted emotional response to the scene.
Quite late in life she turned to oil paint and to gouache, where watercolour is thickened with white. This strengthened her forms and the effect can be seen in River Tone, Somerset (1939) and the exceptionally rich Welsh Emblem (1942). They help complete an interesting survey.
- TJ McNamara, 'From 'too mod' to revered', Weekend Herald. Saturday, July 9, 2016.
Photos courtesy of | Artsdiary
Thanks to all who came along to celebrate the opening of Frances Hodgkins: A Singular Artist.
Do not miss your chance to view these remarkable works. The exhibition runs until Sunday 24 July. We look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!
Proposed Redevelopment | Parsonson Architects and Tennent + Brown.
‘Frances Hodgkins in her studio, Bowen St, Wellington (vintage albumen print) c 1905.'
Courtesy & copyright of the Field Collection Trust 2016.
A facility combining the Waikanae Public Library and Mahara Gallery is a step closer to becoming reality.
A renewed agreement between the Kapiti Coast District Council, the Mahara Gallery Trust and the Field Collection Trust was signed in the full council meeting last Thursday. The project aims to deliver an integrated facility, and a “distinctive, iconic building”, in Waikanae. The new facility would provide a permanent home for the Field Collection which includes paintings by New Zealand-born artist Frances Hodgkins, her family and associates.
"An upgraded Mahara Gallery would be the "jewel in the crown" of the Council's plans for Waikanae to become a cultural precinct within the Kapiti District. The project has been ranked by the Council as one of its most significant current projects." - The Mahara Gallery Trust Board
Frances Hodgkins, 'A Fortune Teller,' 1896.
Courtesy & copyright of the Field Collection Trust, 2016.
"The Field Collection is a collection of 44 works, 24 of them by Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947), considered New Zealand’s most significant expatriate artist. It is the largest collection of Hodgkins' work outside Te Papa and city collections in Dunedin, Auckland, and Christchurch.
The Kapiti connection is the result of Frances’ sister Isabel marrying local land-owner, businessman and MP, William Field.
The collection has been gifted to Mahara Gallery, provided it can provide the infrastructure needed to store and display such an important collection of art works.
Curator and former NZ Portrait Gallery Director Avenal McKinnon says of the Field Collection:
Within this core of twenty-four works is found the essential early Frances Hodgkins from which her later work would spring. … As a collection these paintings should never be underestimated for what they reveal to us about the nature of her beginnings as an artist, her complex relationship with her family – especially her sister Isabel, and the artistic taste of New Zealand during her lifetime."
- Extract from Mahara Gallery. 'Creating a District Art Gallery for the Kapiti Coast.'
Frances Hodgkins: A Singular Artist opens this Thursday 30 June, 5.30 - 7.30 pm, at Jonathan Grant Gallery. You can find us at 280 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland, NZ.
To view exhibition works head over to our Paintings page. Use the 'Enquire' forms, found after the essay on your painting of interest, to make a formal enquiry.
If you wish to contact us directly, call us on +64 9 308 9125.
Our latest exhibition catalogue - Frances Hodgkins: A Singular Artist - is now available for purchase. Also available are two of our previous Frances Hodgkins exhibition catalogues, The Expatriate Years (2012) & Watercolours from Europe (2008).
Frances Hodgkins: A Singular Artist opens Thursday 30 June 2016. Visit our website for more details.
