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  • Papers of Josef Paul Hodin
  • Working papers relating to artistic, cultural and historic figures

Papers of Josef Paul Hodin

1885–2000s

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Josef Paul Hodin (1905-95) was an art critic and novelist. Born in Prague in 1905, he read Law at Charles University before leaving Czechoslovakia to pursue a literary career in Germany. Moving in artistic circles he met and befriended artists and spend time at their studios. The declining political situation in Europe presented an increasingly dangerous situation for Hodin and he was forced to leave Germany for Paris, and thence to his first wife Birgit Akesson's native Sweden in 1935. In Sweden Hodin became a respected art critic and regularly contributed articles to art reviews such as 'Konstrevy' and 'Ord och Bild', and published his first monographs on Swedish artists Ernst Josephson and Sven Erixson. By 1944, his marriage to Akesson had failed, and he came to England where he worked first as personal assistant to Jan Masaryk, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, and later as press attaché to the Norwegian government in exile. In 1945 he married his second wife, Pamela Simms and from 1949-54 was director of studies and librarian of the Institute of Contemporary Arts. From this period onwards, Hodin's output of articles, lectures and books was prodigious. There were seminal books on aesthetics, including 'The Dilemma of Being Modern' (1956) and 'Modern Art and the Modern Mind' (1972), as well as important interpretations of Expressionism and German art from Munch to Schwitters; best seen in the biography of Oskar Kokoschka (1966), who was a close family friend. Hodin also championed emigre artists that had fled the Nazi regime as well as key European masters such as Emilio Greco and Giacomo Manzu. With a second home in Cornwall Hodin also took a special interest in what was happening in St Ives leading to some of the best books on Henry Moore (1956), Lynn Chadwick (1961), and Barbara Hepworth (1961).

This material has been selected to offer a broad picture of Hodin's prolific output and his unique approach to art criticism, an approach which depended on knowing his subjects personally and utilised all the resources of his cultural background. By these means Hodin endeavoured to look beyond the simple aesthetic judgment of art to investigate the spirit which created it.

This archive was catalogued and digitised as part of the Émigré Art Archives Project, generously funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust. All translations courtesy of Jonathan Blower.

Collection Owner
Dr J. P. Hodin
Collection
Tate Archive
Acquisition
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate, 2006. Accrual presented by Annabel Hodin, 2020.
Reference
TGA 20062

407 objects in this collection

  • Papers of Josef Paul Hodin

    407 Objects

    • Correspondence by sender

      275 Objects

    • Fictional and poetic works

      1 Object

    • Working papers relating to artistic, cultural and historic figures

      106 Objects

      • Marc Chagall

        2 Objects

      • Oskar Kokoschka

        8 Objects

      • Else Meidner

        29 Objects

      • Ludwig Meidner

        2 Objects

      • Alfred Aberdam

        1 Object

      • Anna-Eva Bergman

        1 Object

      • Jacob Bornfriend

        1 Object

      • Hans Werner Geerdts

        7 Objects

      • Friedrich Karl Gotsch

        1 Object

      • Marie-Louise von Motesiczky

        1 Object

      • Ben Nicholson

        44 Objects

      • Nína Tryggvadóttir

        6 Objects

      • Jannis Spyropoulos

        3 Objects

    • Working papers relating to general subjects

      24 Objects

    • Photographs

      1 Object

Title
Working papers relating to artistic, cultural and historic figures
Date
1913–90
Description
These files contain notes, correspondence, manuscripts and typescripts and source materials for J.P. Hodin's books, articles and reviews on artists and cultural figures.
Reference
TGA 20062/7

Showing 1–20 of 106 objects

Typescript of ‘A Meeting with Marc Chagall’

Dr J. P. Hodin
1949
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Photographs taken during J.P. Hodin’s meeting with Marc Chagall

Dr J. P. Hodin
1949
View by appointment

Horoscope and zodiac charts for Oskar Kokoschka by Marianne Jacoby

Dr J. P. Hodin
[c.1945]
View by appointment

Photograph of Oskar Kokoschka’s birth certificate

Dr J. P. Hodin
[c.1945]
View by appointment

Photographs of letters from Oskar Kokoschka for graphological analysis

Dr J. P. Hodin
1945
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‘Graphological Indications of Oskar Kokoschka’ by H.J Jacoby

Dr J. P. Hodin
1945
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‘Graphological Portrait of an Artist of Our Time’ by H.J. Jacoby

Dr J. P. Hodin
1945
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Photographs of Oskar Kokoschka

Dr J. P. Hodin
7 September 1956
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Oskar Kokoschka’s palm prints

Oskar Kokoschka
[c.1956]
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English typescript for ‘Oskar Kokoschka: The Pschography of an Artist’

Dr J. P. Hodin
1960s–1970s
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Dedication to J.P. Hodin from Else Meidner

Collection owner: Dr J. P. Hodin
20 March 1959
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Letter from Else Meidner to J.P. Hodin

Else Meidner, recipient: Dr J. P. Hodin
30 July 1975
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Letter from Käthe Kollwitz to Else Meidner

Käthe Kollwitz, recipient: Else Meidner
23 November 1932
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Poem by Else Meidner titled ‘Beethoven’s Symphony no 9 in D minor’

Else Meidner
1949
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Text by Else Meidner titled ‘Dialogue with Death’

Else Meidner
c.1958
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Poem by Else Meidner titled ‘Longing’

Else Meidner
c.1970
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Postcard from Else Meidner to J.P. Hodin

Else Meidner, recipient: Dr J. P. Hodin
10 December 1962
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Poem by Else Meidner

Else Meidner
c.1970
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Letter from Else Meidner to J.P. Hodin

Else Meidner, recipient: Dr J. P. Hodin
21 September 1970
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Letter from Else Meidner to J.P. Hodin

Else Meidner, recipient: Dr J. P. Hodin
21 May 1959
View by appointment
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