Frances Hodgkins

Frances Mary Hodgkins (28 April 1869 – 13 May 1947) was a painter chiefly of landscape and still life, and for a short period was a designer of textiles. She was born in New Zealand, but spent most of her working life in Britain. She is considered one of New Zealand's most prestigious and influential painters, although it is the work from her life in Europe, rather than her home country, on which her reputation rests.

Hodgkins was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1869, the daughter of W. M. Hodgkins, a lawyer, amateur painter, and a leading figure in the city's art circles.

As a girl she attended Braemar House, a private girls' secondary school. She first exhibited in 1890, although she felt overshadowed by her sister, Isabel. In 1893 she became a student of Girolamo Nerli who inspired her first successes. It has been suggested this is where she first met Dorothy Kate Richmond (1860–1935). In 1895–96 she attended the Dunedin School of Art. Her watercolor painting won early recognition.

In 1901 she left New Zealand for Europe, travelling to Britain but also visiting France, the Netherlands, Italy and Morocco in the company of Dorothy Kate Richmond; whom she described as "the dearest woman with the most beautiful face and expression. I am a lucky beggar to have her as a travelling companion." While in Britain she intermittently met up with Margaret Stoddart, another expatiate artist.

She returned to New Zealand and established a studio in Wellington, where she held a joint exhibition with Richmond in 1904. Among her pupils was Edith Kate Bendall, lover of Katherine Mansfield. In the same year Hodgkins became engaged to a British man, T. Boughton Wilby, after the briefest of courtships. She planned to go overseas to marry him, but the engagement was broken off at the last moment for unknown reasons.

In 1906, dissatisfied with teaching in New Zealand, Hodgkins returned to London. Her first solo show was in London in 1907.

In 1911–12 she taught in Paris at Colarossi's academy, the first woman to be appointed instructor in the school. During this time she came in contact with Canadian artist, Emily Carr, whom she taught while working on seascapes at Concarneau in Brittany.

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