Frances Hodgkins was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1869, taking lessons from Girolamo Nerli and attending the Dunedin School of Art. Working between France and Britain from the early 1900s, with her style evolving from Impressionism to a more modernist aesthetic, she settled in London in 1927. Her long-deferred triumph as an artist was sadly overshadowed by ill health and did not guarantee her financial security.
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.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Frances Hodgkins]
Publications related to [Frances Hodgkins] in the Ben Uri Library