Artwork Information

Cedric Morris met Frances Hodgkins in 1917 at Newlyn, Cornwall, where he painted a watercolour portrait of her. Together with his partner, Arthur Lett Haines, he remained a life-long friend. This portrait dates from August-September 1928, when Hodgkins was living in Bloomsbury, London, a short distance from Morris’s home. The combination of colours and surface textures is characteristic of both of their styles between 1927 and 1932. Morris did not seek to flatter his friend, who was twenty years his senior. Rather, Hodgkins is depicted with a double chin, her dyed hair contrasting strongly with her aged complexion. (Intimate Portraits, 2005)