Frances Hodgkins

Frances Hodgkins (1869–1947) was born in Dunedin, the home of New Zealand’s first art school and public art gallery. She was the daughter of William Mathew Hodgkins, a lawyer who was also an amateur watercolour painter. It was his influence that helped shape the creative ability of his daughters Frances and Isabel. Frances left for Europe in 1901 and, by the late 1920s, had become an important figure within British Modernism, exhibiting with avant-garde artists such as Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. With a professional life that spanned almost six decades, the two World Wars, and periods of massive social and cultural change, Hodgkins caught the spirit of a new age. Today, she is celebrated as one of New Zealand’s most successful expatriate artists of the 20th century, and has an ongoing legacy in both Europe and this country.