Lady in Blue

Artist: Frances Hodgkins (1869—1947)
Date: 1891
Place: Dunedin
Media: watercolour on paper
Dimensions: 203 × 120 mm
Catalogue number: 2023–1–04
Credit line: The Field Collection, Toi Mahara

An inscription on the back of this painting identifies the sitter as Frances Hodgkins’ sister Isabel. Its size suggests it was taken from a sketch book formerly in the Field Collection. The Hodgkins Family Album (E-312-q) in the Alexander Turnbull Library contains a series of full-length figure studies and portraits also dated 1891: ‘Phemie’, ‘Maid blackening boot’, ‘Portrait of a young woman with folded hands’, ‘Girl carrying jug’, ‘Girl sewing’ and ‘Sis’. Painted in the family home, these early studies show Hodgkins experimenting with watercolour, exploring colour and learning how to depict figures in space. They show that from her earliest painting efforts, these three concerns were inseparable.