Date: 1896
Media: watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 340 × 260 mm
Catalogue number: 2023–1–08
Credit line: The Field Collection, Toi Mahara
A genre of ‘oriental’ paintings emerged in European art in the 19th century catering to a popular taste for scenes of the mysterious ‘east’. Frances Hodgkins’ painting A Fortune Teller, 1896, may represent a diluted instance of the genre, but the idea for it is just as likely to have originated in the activities of her social circle which frequently involved dressing up in costumes for plays and tableaux at Savage Club evenings. In letters she describes, ‘…Manie posing as Helen of Troy…and Lulu Roberts as Joan of Arc looked splendid in tinsel and silver paper…’ (Linda Gill, Letters of Frances Hodgkins, 1993, p25) In another she mentions that, ‘The Roberts are giving a “bal poudre” (powdered wig ball)’. (Linda Gill, p27).
The composition of A Fortune Teller is decidedly theatrical: the model’s head is framed with a ‘prop’ peacock feather fan and her absorbed gaze into the future seems spot-lit. This kind of anecdotal subject would appeal to a Victorian householder who had a jar of peacock feathers in the hall. For Frances Hodgkins herself, the fascination seems to be in rendering the different appearance of light-reflective surfaces—skin, china cup, dress fabric.

Field Collection Archive
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