Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1869 Dunedin, New Zealand

Died: 1947 Dorchester, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1901

Other name/s: Frances Mary Hodgkins

Biography

Painter Frances Mary Hodgkins was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1869, the third child of an English-born solicitor and painter and his Australian wife. She attended private schools and, following the example of her father and sister, sketched from early childhood. From 1893 she studied under the Italian painter Girolamo Nerli, who taught her a free and richly coloured watercolour technique. In 1895 she attended the Dunedin School of Art and a year later began teaching.

In 1901 Hodgkins set out for Europe, travelling to England, France, Italy and Holland. Hodgkins later recalled: 'Perhaps I ought to have been content with what was a very interesting life, but I felt I was only groping; that I had not realised myself; that I wanted to see the masterpieces of all time; learn what was being done in my chosen medium and measure myself against the moderns'. In 1902, together with other New Zealand women artists including Margaret Stoddart, Grace Joel and her friend Dolla Richmond, Hodgkins was invited to exhibit at the Bayswater Gallery in London. Her sketches were described in the Lyttelton Times as 'being marked by harmonious and attractive colouring and sympathetic treatment'. In 1903 she returned to New Zealand but, unhappy in her personal life, sailed once more for Europe in 1906. After extensive travels and her first solo show in London, Hodgkins settled in Paris in 1909, where she built up a modest reputation as a watercolourist, opening her own watercolour school in 1911. During this period she developed a vibrant, fluid version of the Impressionist style she had adopted in New Zealand, focusing on portraiture. After another return trip to New Zealand in 1912, Hodgkins settled in St Ives, Cornwall at the outbreak of the First World War, where she remained until 1920. She became close friends with fellow artists Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines, who encouraged her to experiment with the oil medium. She adopted a more modernist approach and her works showed a reduction of forms to their simplest structure. She briefly lived in Paris again between 1920 and 1921. In a letter sent to her mother in 1924, Hodgkins discussed her situation as an expatriate, and her struggle not only as an artist, but as a woman: 'It is one of the tragedies of leaving Home – New Zealand is too far away – it ceases to be real. New Zealanders like myself cannot help becoming denationalised – they have no country – it is sad, but true . . . Art is like that. It absorbs your whole life and being. Few women can do it successfully. It requires enormous vitality. That is my conception of genius – vitality'.

From 1925 to 1927 Hodgkins lived in Manchester, teaching and making a short-lived attempt to become a textile designer. In the summer of 1927 she left the city, determined to make a further bid for recognition in London. She exhibited her work with the New English Art Club, catching the attention of the prominent London dealer Arthur Howell, who offered her a contract with his gallery, St. George's. This, in turn, led to her association with the Lefevre and Leicester Galleries, a professional relationship that was to last until the end of her life. She had two successful solo shows in 1928 and 1929 (Claridge and Bloomsbury Galleries, respectively), followed by an invitation to join the Seven and Five Society. Though she would sometimes rent a studio space in London, she preferred to work in the countryside. In December 1939 Hodgkins was invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale, with her career reaching its climax with a retrospective exhibition held in November 1946 at the Lefevre Gallery. She was recognised as a gifted painter and her work was regularly exhibited. She was, however, considered a member of the avant-garde and, for this reason, was often looked upon with suspicion by art dealers and her works were often sold at exceptionally low prices. Hodgkins's long-deferred triumph was overshadowed by ill health and financial insecurity. She was often hungry and lived in appalling conditions. At the age of 63, she was found in her basement studio with the water and light turned off; she had pawned everything and was lying in bed covered in newspapers. In 1942 her friend John Piper negotiated a Civil List pension for her. Despite everything, Hodgkins continued to paint until the last months of her life. She died at Dorchester, Dorset in 1947. Her work is held in many public collections including Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Southampton, Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Related books

Catherine Hammond and Mary Kisler (eds.), Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys (Auckland University Press & Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki: 2019)
Jonathan Gooderham and Richard Wolfe, Frances Hodgkins: A New Zealand Modernist, exhibition catalogue (Auckland: Jonathan Grant Galleries, 2019)
Mary Kisler, Finding Frances Hodgkins (Massey University Press: 2019)
Samantha Niederman, Frances Hodgkins (London: Eiderdown Books: 2019)
Richard Wolfe, Frances Hodgkins. A Singular Artist, exhibition catalogue (Auckland: Jonathan Grant Galleries, 2016)
Richard Wolfe, Frances Hodgkins: The Expatriate Years 1901–1947 (Auckland: Jonathan Grant Galleries, 2013)
Elizabeth Eastmond, 'Metaphor and the Self‐Portrait: Frances Hodgkins's Self‐Portrait: Still Life and Still Life: Self‐Portrait', Art History, Vol. 22, Issue 5, December 1999, pp. 656-675
Sarah Hillary and Joyce Townsend, 'A Lively Parrot: Frances Hodgkin's Wings over Water', Tate Papers, Issue 5, Spring 2006
Joanne Drayton, Frances Hodgkins: A Private Viewing (Auckland: Godwit, 2005)
Iain Buchanan, Michael Dunn and Elizabeth Eastmond, Frances Hodgkins: Paintings and Drawings (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2002)
Pamela Gerrish Nunn, 'Frances Hodgkins: A Question of Identity', Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, Autumn 1994-Winter 1995, pp. 9-13
Linda Gill (ed.), Letters of Frances Hodgkins (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1993)
June Opie, 'Frances Hodgkins, 'the Expatriate' in Her Centennial Year', Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 117, No. 5160, November 1969, pp. 874-888
Leo Bensemann and Barbara Brooke (ed.), 'Frances Hodgkins Commemorative Issue', Ascent. Journal of the Arts in New Zealand (Christchurch: Caxton Press, 1969)
Eric Hall McCormick, The Expatriate: A Study of Frances Hodgkins (Wellington: New Zealand University Press, 1954)

Public collections

Selected exhibitions

Crossing Borders: Internationalism in Modern British Art, British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery (2023)
Frances Hodgkins: A New Zealand Modernist, Jonathan Grant Galleries, Auckland, New Zealand (2019)
7&5: The Seven and Five Society, 1920–1935, Fine Art Society (2014)
Frances Hodgkins: The Late Work, Minories Art Gallery, Colchester (1990)
Frances Hodgkins, Whitford and Hughes Gallery, London (1990)
A Tribute to Frances Hodgkins, Gillian Jason Gallery, London (1987)
Frances Hodgkins Exhibition, Hambledon Gallery, Blandford Forum/Dorset (1966)
Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John: A Memorial Exhibition, Tate Gallery, London (1952)
Retrospective Exhibition of Frances Hodgkins, Lefevre Galleries, London (1949)
Exhibition of Watercolours, group show, Manchester City Art Gallery (1945)
Solo exhibition, Lefevre Gallery (1943)
Solo exhibition, Leicester Gallery (1941)
Henry Cornell and Fifteen Women Painters, Leicester Galleries (1940)
Solo exhibition, Lefevre Gallery (1940)
Contemporary British Art, World's Fair Exhibition, New York (1939)
Living Art in England, London Gallery (1939)
Solo exhibition, Lefevre Galleries (1937)
Zwemmer and Wertheim Galleries (1933)
Seven and Five Society: 9th exhibition (1930), 10th exhibition (1931), 11th (1932), 12th (1933), 13th (1934)
Solo exhibition, St George's Gallery (1930)
All Saints Gallery, Manchester (1926)
Little Art Rooms, Adelphi, London (1923)
Hampstead Art Gallery (1920)
International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Grosvenor Gallery, London (1915, 1916, 1917, 1918)
Royal Academy: 147th exhibition (1915), 148th exhibition (1916)
Solo exhibition, Paterson's Gallery, London (1907)
Royal Academy: 136th exhibition (1904), 137th exhibition (1905)
Fine Art Society (1903)
Colonial Art Exhibition, Bayswater Gallery (1902)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Frances Hodgkins]