86
has several key works including the extraordinary
double portrait Loveday and Ann (1915–16), the large,
ornate drawing Seated Woman (c.1926) and Wings
over Water (1931–32). However, there is another fine
version of Wings over Water (1932), from the Leeds
Art Gallery (the ‘hero’ image that has been used to
promote the exhibition).
As a painter, Hodgkins became increasingly
experimental and adventurous. The exhibition
includes several relatively early and less characteristic
works where she is clearly trying out different styles
and approaches to colour. For instance, the vivid hues
and flowing brushstrokes of Untitled [The Piano Lesson]
(1911) suggest perhaps the influence of Matisse or
Dufy (perhaps both), while works such as Red Cockerel
(1924), Three Children (c.1924) and Phoenician Ruins (c.
1937) reveal a familiarity with—but refusal to fully
submit to—cubism. Ultimately her experimentation
was driven, not by the art, however stimulating,
of others, but by her determination to convey the
world as she saw it while, at the same time, making
images that were resolved and satisfying in pictorial
terms. As she wrote to John Piper in response to his
exhibition review of her work: ‘They ARE by reason
of their (overpowering?) reality... Myself, I should
say that I, my medium and my subject act & react to
produce new & vital creations &, if possible, acheive
[sic] a perfect balance—.’^5 Her work became less
‘documentary’ in nature, more expressive and in later
years increasingly symbolic and these shifts are very
evident in the exhibition. The visible world, however
enigmatically she might represent it, was always
central to the making of every image. For me, one of
the pleasures of Hodgkins’ late work is puzzling out
what it is I am looking at: what is that odd shape, that
unusual texture, that unexpected area of colour? And(left) Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys at Auckland Art Gallery
Toi o Tamaki, May 2019
(Photograph: David St George)
(below)
FRANCES HODGKINS Stormy Sunset over Peaslake, Surrey c.1929
Pencil on paper, 354 x 525 mm.
(Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago)
(opposite) FRANCES HODGKINS
Still Life with Eggs and Mushrooms c.1929
Oil on canvas, 640 x 530 mm.
(Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove)