Spanish Shrine
Date
1933-5
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Object Detail
Catalogue number
FH1036
Date
1933-5
Brief Description
Travel was always essential to Frances Hodgkins' health and to her work, although its discomforts and financial constraints pressed on her as she grew older. On 3 January 1933 she wrote to a friend from the Hotel Belear in Ibiza, Spain: '. . . I would rather be here in the sunshine than alone in the Studio - it was getting me badly. The SHOW is the THING - I must set London talking - they expect it of me . . . but down here I forget all about it & think only of the jolly things I see around me & the awful urge to get at them'. Hodgkins painted Spanish Shrine in England, after her return from Spain, working from watercolour sketches. It was a very successful work, exhibited several times during the 1930s and '40s. Sunday Times critic Eric Newton praised the balance she achieved: '. . . between the world of her eye and the world of her mind's eye . . . the picture is both a symbol and a description and the two are interwoven'. A calmly-beautiful work, Spanish Shrine shows two peasant women, carrying containers of water and fruit, either side of a religious statue, possibly Mary or a local saint. The three figures share a monumental, iconic stillness; the statue is in an attitude of prayer, and the women, temporarily halted in their daily tasks, have eyes alight with the certainty of their faith. (from The Guide, 2001)
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
662 x 942 x 7 mm
Inscription
Signed lower left: Frances Hodgkins
Collection
Institutional number
1954/8
Credit line
Auckland
Art
Gallery
Toi
o
Tāmaki,
purchased
1954
Provenance
Sir Michael Sadler, Oxford, England, most likely purchased from Leicester Galleries, London, 1941.
Mr George Mitchell, 1947.
The Redfern Gallery, London, England.
Purchased by Auckland City Art Gallery (now Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki), New Zealand, from the Redfern Gallery, London, England, 1954.
Mr George Mitchell, 1947.
The Redfern Gallery, London, England.
Purchased by Auckland City Art Gallery (now Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki), New Zealand, from the Redfern Gallery, London, England, 1954.
Exhibition history
References
Arthur Howell, Frances Hodgkins: Four Vital Years, Rockliff, London, 1951| pp.108,119,121,122,123
Myfanwy Evans, Frances Hodgkins, Penguin Books, London, 1948| ill. 22
E H McCormick, Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1954| colour ill. III ; p. 207
Auckland City Art Gallery, The Paintings and Drawings by Frances Hodgkins, Pelorus Press, Auckland, 1959| ill. 12
Frances Hodgkins 1869-1947: A Centenary Exhibition, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand, Auckland, 1969| ill. 72
E H McCormick, Portrait of Frances Hodgkins, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1981| p. 118 (ill.)
E H McCormick, Late Attachment: Frances Hodgkins & Maurice Garnier, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1988| p. 15 (ill.)
Jill Trevelyan, Frances Hodgkins, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 1993| p. 29 (ill. 17)
Iain Buchanan, Michael Dunn, Elizabeth Eastmond, Frances Hodgkins: Paintings and Drawings, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1994| p. 144 (colour ill.)
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki: The Guide, Scala Publishers Ltd, London, 2001| Page 87
Kate Gallagher, Frances Hodgkins: A Modernist Eye, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, 2001| colour ill. 3
Joanne Drayton, Frances Hodgkins: A Private Viewing, Godwit, Auckland, 2005| p. 228 (colour ill.)
Mary Kisler, Frances Hodgkins: Leitmotif, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, 2005| p. 23 (colour ill. 20)
Mary Kisler, Finding Frances Hodgkins, Massey University Press, 2019| p. [261] (colour ill. 51)
Catherine Hammond, Mary Kisler, Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys, Auckland University Press, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, 2019| p. [152]-[153] (colour ill. 7.10)
Myfanwy Evans, Frances Hodgkins, Penguin Books, London, 1948| ill. 22
E H McCormick, Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1954| colour ill. III ; p. 207
Auckland City Art Gallery, The Paintings and Drawings by Frances Hodgkins, Pelorus Press, Auckland, 1959| ill. 12
Frances Hodgkins 1869-1947: A Centenary Exhibition, Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand, Auckland, 1969| ill. 72
E H McCormick, Portrait of Frances Hodgkins, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1981| p. 118 (ill.)
E H McCormick, Late Attachment: Frances Hodgkins & Maurice Garnier, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, 1988| p. 15 (ill.)
Jill Trevelyan, Frances Hodgkins, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 1993| p. 29 (ill. 17)
Iain Buchanan, Michael Dunn, Elizabeth Eastmond, Frances Hodgkins: Paintings and Drawings, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1994| p. 144 (colour ill.)
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki: The Guide, Scala Publishers Ltd, London, 2001| Page 87
Kate Gallagher, Frances Hodgkins: A Modernist Eye, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, 2001| colour ill. 3
Joanne Drayton, Frances Hodgkins: A Private Viewing, Godwit, Auckland, 2005| p. 228 (colour ill.)
Mary Kisler, Frances Hodgkins: Leitmotif, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, 2005| p. 23 (colour ill. 20)
Mary Kisler, Finding Frances Hodgkins, Massey University Press, 2019| p. [261] (colour ill. 51)
Catherine Hammond, Mary Kisler, Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys, Auckland University Press, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland, 2019| p. [152]-[153] (colour ill. 7.10)