Letter from Frances Hodgkins to Rachel Hodgkins
Date
20 Oct 1919
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Object Detail
Date
20 Oct 1919
Transcript
Studio 1 Eldon Rd, Kensington W8 Oct 20th
My Dearest Mother
I have been back a fortnight and bar colds am feeling well, tho’ rather as if the octopus had got hold of me again. London clutches you like that. I managed to get up from Barrington in spite of the railway strike, which was an ugly bit of real warfare tho’ without bloodshed. I managed to board the only train running on the Midland line, worked by Volunteers & I stood for 60 miles & came safely thro’ with luggage & self intact.
A terrible swell, aided & abetted by many of his kind, in priceless clothes, handled the luggage far quicker & better than any lousy porter that I’ve ever seen & no tips required! I found the Studio in good repair, but dirty and I have been cleaning and tidying it up as best I can wh is only so-so. Fogs have started early & they always make you feel sticky & grimy. They give me bronchitis – the air is thick with ill combusted coal, which hangs a ton weight in the air & gets into all yr air tubes. Heavens what a Londoners lungs must be like! And they talk of saving coal! Which reminds me my little lot has been on order just 1 month & I have not got it yet, am burning a small quantity of low grade gas. They don’t allow you much. Have just received notice from the Gas Co. that the hire of gas stoves goes up 50% from today – or I can buy out right. Kind of them.
I found two nice welcome letters from you dear. It was bad luck to hear of Will’s loss by fire – I was so sorry – I read a little further & was cheered by Sissie’s Coney coat & the motor car. Wish I could see her in both, bless her. I notice sighs & motors are inseparable. All my motoring friends sigh over them! Something always goes wrong.
I came back to Town to find I had made a bit of a hit at the International with this last lot of work. Also, & this is good mark you, I have had my first visit from a bona fide dealer – which is what I have worked, wanted & prayed for since long enough. This is in the shape of a flattering invitation to hold a one man show, Feb & March, at the Hampstead Art Gallery, just opened & about to show a brilliant set of one man shows. The brilliancy I hope may not end when mine commences! I had a 2 hour’s interview, here yesterday. The Show is to be well done – they say they are going to spend £100 over each show – Wolmark is now showing – then comes Walter Boyes, Lucien Pissarro and I follow on. It will be an advertisement & if it is nothing more I shan’t complain fame must proceed gain. This doesn’t prevent me from being exceedingly hard up & insolvent. The Australian lady has departed ere I could get back so the portrait has come to naught. That was to make winter safe for me. Pupils dribble in, but they are more nuisance than they are worth. You want crowds of them to make it pay. I may decide to go to St Ives till after Xmas & let this Studio & live on the rent. I can’t run to clothes & every thing is extortionately dear. So my prosperity is more apparent than real but I feel it will not be always. Also I feel for health’s sake I am better out of London. Do you know I went out to supper on Sunday night, the fog got thick, buses stopped & lined up, miles of them, & I was 2 hours getting home – groping my way. Talk of a foggy situation! I can only send these 2 cuttings. The more important ones I must keep by me. One paper calls me a ‘refreshing tonic amid a sea of sedatives”. Love to all Dearest & your dear unselfish self. You do write such brave & sweet letters. Your ever loving Fanny.
My Dearest Mother
I have been back a fortnight and bar colds am feeling well, tho’ rather as if the octopus had got hold of me again. London clutches you like that. I managed to get up from Barrington in spite of the railway strike, which was an ugly bit of real warfare tho’ without bloodshed. I managed to board the only train running on the Midland line, worked by Volunteers & I stood for 60 miles & came safely thro’ with luggage & self intact.
A terrible swell, aided & abetted by many of his kind, in priceless clothes, handled the luggage far quicker & better than any lousy porter that I’ve ever seen & no tips required! I found the Studio in good repair, but dirty and I have been cleaning and tidying it up as best I can wh is only so-so. Fogs have started early & they always make you feel sticky & grimy. They give me bronchitis – the air is thick with ill combusted coal, which hangs a ton weight in the air & gets into all yr air tubes. Heavens what a Londoners lungs must be like! And they talk of saving coal! Which reminds me my little lot has been on order just 1 month & I have not got it yet, am burning a small quantity of low grade gas. They don’t allow you much. Have just received notice from the Gas Co. that the hire of gas stoves goes up 50% from today – or I can buy out right. Kind of them.
I found two nice welcome letters from you dear. It was bad luck to hear of Will’s loss by fire – I was so sorry – I read a little further & was cheered by Sissie’s Coney coat & the motor car. Wish I could see her in both, bless her. I notice sighs & motors are inseparable. All my motoring friends sigh over them! Something always goes wrong.
I came back to Town to find I had made a bit of a hit at the International with this last lot of work. Also, & this is good mark you, I have had my first visit from a bona fide dealer – which is what I have worked, wanted & prayed for since long enough. This is in the shape of a flattering invitation to hold a one man show, Feb & March, at the Hampstead Art Gallery, just opened & about to show a brilliant set of one man shows. The brilliancy I hope may not end when mine commences! I had a 2 hour’s interview, here yesterday. The Show is to be well done – they say they are going to spend £100 over each show – Wolmark is now showing – then comes Walter Boyes, Lucien Pissarro and I follow on. It will be an advertisement & if it is nothing more I shan’t complain fame must proceed gain. This doesn’t prevent me from being exceedingly hard up & insolvent. The Australian lady has departed ere I could get back so the portrait has come to naught. That was to make winter safe for me. Pupils dribble in, but they are more nuisance than they are worth. You want crowds of them to make it pay. I may decide to go to St Ives till after Xmas & let this Studio & live on the rent. I can’t run to clothes & every thing is extortionately dear. So my prosperity is more apparent than real but I feel it will not be always. Also I feel for health’s sake I am better out of London. Do you know I went out to supper on Sunday night, the fog got thick, buses stopped & lined up, miles of them, & I was 2 hours getting home – groping my way. Talk of a foggy situation! I can only send these 2 cuttings. The more important ones I must keep by me. One paper calls me a ‘refreshing tonic amid a sea of sedatives”. Love to all Dearest & your dear unselfish self. You do write such brave & sweet letters. Your ever loving Fanny.
Sender's address
Studio, 1 Eldon Rd., Kensington W.8
Institutional No.
MS-Papers-0085-37
Credit Line
Letters
from
Frances
Hodgkins.
Field,
Isabel
Jane,
1867-1950
:
Correspondence
of
Frances
Hodgkins
and
family
/
collected
by
Isabel
Field.
Ref:
MS-Papers-0085-37.
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Wellington,
New
Zealand.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23184573
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23184573