Frances Hodgkins – Colour and Light

Frances Hodgkins – Colour and Light
Frances Hodgkins
The piano lesson c1909
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
purchased 2007

Exhibition Details

In 2007, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki acquired these 20 paintings by expatriate New Zealand artist Frances Hodgkins. Painted in the first decade of the 20th century, they were hidden away in a drawing folio before the original owner's family discovered them in 2007.

These sketches may have served as teaching points for her many students, but how they came to be in a French private collection remains a mystery.

When Hodgkins exhibited similar watercolours in Sydney and Melbourne in 1912–13, she told a reviewer how she had gone to England in 1901 looking for colour and light. Unable to find it, she 'fled to France', where she attended Norman Garstin's sketching class at Caudebec-en-Caux.

However, it was her trip to Morocco the same year that proved a turning point. Mediterranean culture provided Hodgkins with a simplicity of architectural forms, sparkling light and strong colour, all elements of what eventually became her own highly individual style.

In Paris, Hodgkins revelled in debates, experimentation and the desire for new forms of expression which were central to the avant-garde movements. We see Hodgkins pushing the boundaries of traditional watercolour, using the kind of experimentation that eventually transformed her into one of the leading English modernists of her day.

Date
Curated by
Mary Kisler
Location
Level 1
Cost
Free entry

Related Artwork

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Untitled [The Watermelon Seller]
Untitled [The Watermelon Seller]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1903
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
566 x 472 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/1
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Untitled [Mother and Child]
Untitled [Mother and Child]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
1903
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
970 x 720 x 33 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/2
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Untitled [Loading the Cart]
Untitled [Loading the Cart]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
1906
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
574 x 690 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased with assistance from Geri and John Herbert, Cyril Wright and Linda Light, 2007
Accession no
2007/8/3
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Untitled [Checking the baskets]
Untitled [Checking the baskets]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
1906
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
820 x 935 x 33 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased with assistance from the Auckland Decorative & Fine Arts Society, 2007
Accession no
2007/8/4
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Untitled [The Piano Lesson]
Untitled [The Piano Lesson]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1911
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
780 x 845 x 33 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/5
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Untitled [Fisherman Sewing a Sail]
Untitled [Fisherman Sewing a Sail]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1911
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
960 x 720 x 33 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/6
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Not on display

Untitled [Still Life with a Bunch of Flowers]
Untitled [Still Life with a Bunch of Flowers]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1908
Medium
gouache and watercolour on cardboard
Size (h x w)
312 x 453 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/7
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Untitled [Woman Sewing with Children]
Untitled [Woman Sewing with Children]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1910
Medium
watercolour, charcoal and pencil
Size (h x w)
382 x 284 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/8
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Not on display

Untitled [Beach Huts, Concarneau]
Untitled [Beach Huts, Concarneau]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1912
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
350 x 352 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/9
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Not on display

Untitled [Woman in a Sunhat]
Untitled [Woman in a Sunhat]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1910
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
312 x 310 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, The Ilene and Laurence Dakin Bequest, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/10
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Not on display

Untitled [Women Sitting Among the Rocks]
Untitled [Women Sitting Among the Rocks]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1912
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
370 x 364 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/11
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Not on display

Untitled [Still Life with a Bottle]
Untitled [Still Life with a Bottle]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
1908
Medium
oil on paper
Size (h x w)
465 x 635 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/12
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Not on display

Untitled [Beach scene]
Untitled [Beach scene]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1912
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
480 x 632 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/13
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Sleeping Child]
Untitled [Sleeping Child]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1912
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
360 x 348 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/14
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Fishing Boats]
Untitled [Fishing Boats]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1910
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
303 x 298 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/15
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Woman with a Mirror]
Untitled [Woman with a Mirror]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1912
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
548 x 425 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased with assistance from Georgina Ralston, 2007
Accession no
2007/8/16
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Interior of a Cathedral]
Untitled [Interior of a Cathedral]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
Post 1908
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
458 x 378 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/17
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Summer Garden]
Untitled [Summer Garden]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1911
Medium
watercolour and charcoal
Size (h x w)
366 x 352 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/18
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Boats by the Harbour Wall]
Untitled [Boats by the Harbour Wall]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1911
Medium
watercolour
Size (h x w)
735 x 740 x 33 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2007
Accession no
2007/8/19
View Artwork

Not on display

Untitled [Laying the Table]
Untitled [Laying the Table]

Frances Hodgkins

Production date
circa 1912
Medium
watercolour, charcoal and gouache
Size (h x w)
755 x 730 x 33 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Maurice and Beverley Allen, 2007
Accession no
2007/8/20