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Chairs and Pots
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? Estate of Frances Hodgkins

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Chairs and Pots about 1939
Hodgkins travelled in Spain from 1935-6 and although usually dated around 1939, this work relates stylistically to several other gouaches she painted during this period. It shows characteristics of a new phase which emerged in her work around 1928-30 and later became an important aspect of her oeuvre - the still life-landscape. `Chairs and Pots? features an abstracted composition with Hodgkins? distinctive spatial ambiguity. Rippling and reflections around the central chair leg suggest the group is standing in water. This is contrasted against the flat background, on which shadows of the objects are visible, implying a studio arrangement. This ambiguity is juxtaposed with the overall tonal harmony created by the blue palette.

Glossary Open

Composition

The arrangement of different elements in a work of art.

Gouache

Usually refers to watercolour mixed with white pigment that retains the fluidity of the former but without the transparency. The term body-colour is also used.

Oeuvre

French term which is used to refer to an artist's total body of work.

Palette

A hand-held board on which a painter lays out and mixes the colours he or she is using. By extension it is used to describe the range of colours employed by an artist.

Still life

A painting, drawing or photograph depicting inanimate objects.

Composition, Gouache, Oeuvre, Palette , Still life

Details

  • Acc. No. GMA 3494
  • Medium Gouache and watercolour on paper
  • Size 72.30 x 54.90 cm (framed: 92.80 x 75.30 x 7.40 cm)
  • Credit Bequeathed by Miss Elizabeth Watt 1989

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