Artwork Information

This stylishly dressed woman is sitting at the stern of a boat, her hand steadying her hat against the sea breeze. The strong reflections of light behind her signal it is late afternoon. Earlier painters such as Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted similar compositions in oils. Yet Frances Hodkgins is never derivative. She noted: '. . . it is so easy to paint like your master & to think other people’s thoughts, the difficulty is to be yourself, assimilate all that is helpful but keep your own individuality, as your most precious possession – it is one’s only chance.