Republished - Frances Mary Hodgkins: A Thoroughly Modern Artist
"I feel that if I had known what was before me, I should never have had the courage to begin."
Welcome to Beyond Bloomsbury - historical artist and writer biographies. Artist Frances Mary Hodgkins was born on this date, 28th April, in 1869 - and today, I have republished an early Beyond Bloomsbury biography in her memory.
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Coming soon: biographies of artists Christopher Wood and John Everett Millais.
Frances Mary Hodgkins was one of the leading artists of the early twentieth century. Originally from New Zealand, she spent most of her professional life travelling across England and Europe where her painting technique evolved from Impressionist to a distinctive and instantly recognisable Modernist style.
Frances was born in Dunedin, a city on the South Island of New Zealand, on 28th April 1869. She was the third of six children born to lawyer William Mathew Hodgkins and his Australian wife, Rachel Owen Parker. At that time, Dunedin was one of the country's most affluent cities and home to a thriving bohemian artistic community
Though her father was a lawyer by profession, he was also a watercolour artist heavily involved in the city’s art scene. Frances and her elder sister Isabel inherited his talent and passion for the subject. But, whilst Isabel and William painted traditional landscapes in the style of English Romantic artist J.M.W. Turner, Frances, preferring the human form, painted portraiture instead.
In 1893, when Frances was twenty-four, she began taking art classes with Italian artist Girolamo Nerli, who had moved to Dunedin and opened a teaching studio there. Under Nerli’s tutelage, Frances developed her portraiture skills, and his influence can be seen in The Girl with the Flaxen Hair. That same year, her elder sister Isabel married lawyer W.H. Field, and though she continued to paint, it was no longer her primary consideration. The choices made by Isabel had a significant impact on Frances and influenced her plans for the future.
Choosing independence and determined to earn her living, in 1895, Frances enrolled at the Dunedin School of Art and Design to qualify as an art teacher, and in 1896, began teaching classes of her own. Her father’s unexpected death in 1898 reinforced her ambitions, and she resolved to raise funds to travel to England.
Just three years later, Frances left New Zealand for England, enrolling at the City of London Polytechnic and, later that year, travelling to France to attend a summer school taught by Penzance-based artist Norman Garstin. It was the beginning of an enduring friendship with Garstin, who introduced her to other leading British artists at that time, including Stanhope Forbes and Lamorna Birch from the Newlyn School in Cornwall. Frances also formed a close friendship with fellow New Zealand artist Dorothy Richmond, who encouraged her to remain in Europe, where they travelled and painted together.
I found Miss Richmond already installed when I arrived and winning all hearts by her sweetness & beauty … I am a lucky beggar to have her for a travelling companion. She is so restful & sweet and I think we suit each other well.1
Under pressure from family to return home, Frances arrived back in New Zealand with Dorothy in November 1903, where they opened a studio exhibiting their European paintings. However, keen to further her international career, Frances left New Zealand again in January 1906, travelling between England and Europe before setting up a home and studio in Paris and spending summers on the French coast.
Although Frances’ early letters to her mother indicated she would return to New Zealand once her career was established, by the end of 1911, she wrote:
It’s on this side of the world that my work & future career lie.2
Frances returned to New Zealand for the final time in December 1912. But, by October 1913 she was again on her way to Europe - first to Italy and then France. She remained in France until the outbreak of the First World War, which then necessitated a return to England, where she settled in St. Ives, a small fishing village in Cornwall. St Ives, at that time, was home to an emerging artistic community, and she became friendly with artists much younger than herself, including Welsh artist Cedric Lockwood Morris.
When the war ended in 1918, Frances could resume her nomadic lifestyle. But, during the economic depression of the 1920s, like many other artists, she struggled financially and, feeling that she had no choice, booked a ticket to Melbourne to depart on 30th June 1925. Fortunately, before her departure, Jane Saunders, a friend and former pupil, introduced her to the director of the Calico Printers Association in Manchester, and Frances began working there as a fabric designer in 1925. It wasn’t easy work and kept her away from her beloved painting, but it meant that she was financially comfortable for the first time in years.
I can hardly believe it that the terror of these past distracted years has passed & that life has eased for me just when I had given up all hope.
Letter from Frances to her mother
Frances was employed at the CPA until June 1927, living with Jane and her partner Hannah Ritchie. But as her reputation as an artist grew and she became tired of the Manchester climate, she decided to leave England again. Together with Jane and Hannah, she travelled to Brittany, where they were joined by Cedric Morris.
That same year, Morris introduced Frances to the Seven & Five Society—a London art group founded in 1919 and so-called due to its twelve original members - seven painters and five sculptors. The Society hoped to promote traditional artistic sensibilities, but with the joining of young painter Ben Nicholson in 1924, followed by sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, it reformed into a modernist group. They invited Frances to become a member in 1929, and she remained with them until 1934.
1931, after travelling across Europe again, Frances returned to Bodinnick-by-Fowey - a small port town in south Cornwall, England. But, by December 1932, she lived in Ibiza and stayed there until the middle of 1933 before departing again for England. In the summer of 1935, she returned to Spain and the resort of Tossa de Mar in Catalonia. The town inspired her, and she wrote to her friend Dorothy Selby in November 1935:
[I] paint in the morning – dividing my time inside & outside the studio – this is the very charming part of a place like Tossa. So small and simple one can step into the old streets and have a look round – make a quick sketch & back to the Studio –repeating this little stunt perhaps 2-3 times during the morning.3
But with the threat of civil war looming in Spain, Frances relocated to France and, in May 1936, with further political unrest in Europe, returned once again to England, settling in Corfe Castle, a small Dorset village on the Isle of Purbeck.
With the Second World War outbreak in 1939, England’s coastline suffered from regular enemy attacks. By now, Frances was in her seventies and struggled both physically and emotionally, and she took temporary refuge in a friend’s cottage in Bradford-on-Tone, Somerset.
In the years following the war, her health declined, and she moved into a hotel. Sadly, on 22nd March 1947, just weeks before her 78th birthday and suffering from a terminal illness, she moved into Herrison House Hospital, where she died two months later. Her ashes are in a family plot in Waikanae cemetery near Wellington. Shortly after her death, a letter arrived from Downing Street that requested she be nominated for a CBE.
Acknowledged as one of New Zealand’s leading artists, Frances’ work is still exhibited in major galleries, including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Tate Britain, the Victoria & Albert Museum and Manchester Art Gallery.
I feel that if I had known what was before me, I should never have had the courage to begin.
Notes:
If you enjoyed this biography of Frances Mary Hodgkins please like, share, and/or comment. You can also subscribe as a free or paid member or read a list of subscription options (inc. concessions) by clicking the button below. I will examine her life and work further in future biographies. Thank you for reading, and as always, thank you for your support!
Images:
Images are credited unless in the public domain. I conduct careful research, but please let me know if you believe a mistake has been made.
Sources and Recommended Reading:
Buchanan, Ian, Dunn, Michael and Eastmond Elizabeth. Frances Hodgkins: Paintings and Drawings. 2002.
Drayton, Joanne. Frances Hodgkins: A Private Viewing. 2005.
Evans, M., ed. Frances Hodgkins. 1948.
Gill, L. ed. Letters of Frances Hodgkins. 1993.
Hammond Catherine & Kisler, Mary ed. Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys. 2019.
Howell, A. R. Frances Hodgkins: four vital years. 1951.
Kisler, Mary. Finding Frances Hodgkins. 2019.
McCormick, E. H. Portrait of Frances Hodgkins. 1981.
McCormick, E. H. Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand. 1954.
Niederman, Samantha. Frances Hodgkins. 2019.
Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins, July - August 1903, Rijsoord bij Rotterdam, Holland.
Letters from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins. Field, Isabel Jane, 1867-1950 : Correspondence of Frances Hodgkins and family / collected by Isabel Field. Ref: MS-Papers-0085-24. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Dorothy Selby. E H McCormick Archive of Frances Hodgkins' Letters, E H McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
Whenever I read a piece by someone who I vaguely know you always manage to bring them to life and educate me. Thanks for this, great piece.
Thank you for this wonderful piece. I was completely smitten by the NZ women artists when I visited a few years ago and spent many happy hours in Christchurch Art Gallery looking at them all, especially Rita Angus and now you give me another name to explore.
I wonder if you know of a book entitled Bloomsbury South by Peter Simpson. It covers the art movement in Christchurch NZ between 1933 and 1953. I saw it while I was there but just couldn’t carry it back with me. I still covet it! Might be of interest, especially in the way they rebelled against the need for women to travel to England to make their name, preferring to establish their own artistic movement in New Zealand.