Te Papa has recently purchased seven major paintings by renowned New Zealand artist Frances Hodgkins.
Still Life: Self Portrait (also known as The Red Beret), about 1940, oil on plywood panel, considered one of Hodgkins’ most significant works, arrived at Te Papa today. This painting will appear in Te Papa’s art exhibition Journeys of the Heart: the travels of Frances Hodgkins which opens on 7 August in the Aorangi Room on Level 5. The remaining paintings will arrive over the next few months and will be incorporated into the exhibition.
'The paintings were purchased from the Geoffrey Gorer collection in England. Gorer was a close friend of Hodgkins and the works purchased by Te Papa are a significant group, spanning a little over twenty years, the most significant twenty years of her life as an artist. The range of subject matter is comprehensive: still life, landscape, and portraits. So too is the range of media represented: watercolour, gouache, pencil, and oil,' said Te Papa art curator Jillian Lloyd.
The other works purchased by Te Papa are The Card Players (about 1922, pencil), Three French Sailors (about 1924, watercolour), Lancashire Mill Girls (about 1925, watercolour), Still Life with Eggs and Willow (about 1929, watercolour), The Croft House, Bradford on Tone, Taunton, Somerset (1946, gouache), and Cherry Tree at the Croft, Bradford on Tone, Taunton (1946, gouache).
Still Life: Self Portrait was purchased for $NZ230,000. The total price paid for the seven paintings will be approximately $NZ600,000.
Born in Dunedin in 1869, Hodgkins left New Zealand for London in 1901 and spent the rest of her life restlessly moving around England and Europe, occasionally returning to New Zealand.
Hodgkins was poor, driven from place to place by the need to find cheap lodgings. She relied on income from sales of her paintings, so she was constantly in search of appealing, exotic subjects to paint.
'There are a few constants in Hodgkins’ transient life that are found through her letters and paintings - her passion for painting, her nomadic lifestyle, and her emotional life are vividly conveyed. Her travels, not only over land but also over the emotional landscape of her life, have provided a context in which to view her art and are the theme of Te Papa’s exhibition Journeys of the Heart: the travels of Frances Hodgkins,' said Ms Lloyd.