Drawings, gouaches and watercolours by Frances Hodgkins

Frances Hodgkins was born in Dunedin, NewZealand, the daughter of a watercolour artist. From 1895-6 she studied at the Dunedin School of Art. In 1901 she made the first of several painting trips to Europe; holding her first London exhibition at Paterson's Gallery in the same year. She lived in Paris between 1908-14 and was the first woman instructor at the Académie Colarossi. She returned to England for the duration of the First World War, and while staying in St Ives Hodgkins first met her life-long friend Cedric Morris who encouraged her to join the avant garde Seven & Five Society, whom she exhibited with until 1934. In 1939 Sir Kenneth Clark included examples of Hodgkins' work in the British pavilions at the World's Fair in New York and the 22nd Venice Biennale. Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Lefevre Gallery in 1946 and by the Arts Council in 1952. Frances Hodgkins died in 1947. This small collection of drawings and paintings was found in Hodgkins' studio after her death. Some of the earlier pieces show depictions of people and places which Hodgkins encountered on her trips to France and Spain, while later works show rural scenes of Corfe Castle, Dorset, where the artist settled in the latter years of her life.

Collection Owner

Frances Hodgkins 1869–1947

Collection

Tate Archive

Acquisition

Presented to the Archive by Frances Hodgkins's executor John Piper, in 1984.

Reference

TGA 846