Frances Hodgkins

Seated Woman

c.1925–30

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Not on display

Artist: Frances Hodgkins 1869–1947
Medium: Graphite and chalk on paper
Dimensions: Support: 940 × 597 mm
Frame: 1052 × 710 × 46 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1948
Reference: N05857

Display caption

In this portrait Hodgkins uses a series of interlocking patterns in a combination of naturalism and abstraction that she developed from studying the work of Matisse. The ambiguous setting adds to the fantastical, almost surreal effect. This bringing together of a number of sources into an insistently individual work led to what one 1940s critic called Hodgkins' ‘blend of the decorative and the visionary’.

Gallery label, February 2010

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Catalogue entry

N05857 SEATED WOMAN c. 1925–30

Inscr. ‘Frances Hodgkins’ b.r.
Pencil and black chalk, 37×23 1/2 (94×60).
Purchased from the Lefevre Gallery (Knapping Fund) 1948.
Coll: Purchased by the Lefevre Gallery from the artist.
Exh: R.S.A., Edinburgh, 1945 (676), as ‘Seated Girl’; Arts Council, Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John, Tate Gallery, May–June 1952 (75); Arts Council provincial tour, 1952 (18).
Lit: Arthur R. Howell, Frances Hodgkins, Four Vital Years, 1951, p.111.
Repr: John Rothenstein, The Tate Gallery, 1958, p.103.

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