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• Auction House:
  Webb's
• Sale Name:
  Important Paintings and Contemporary Art
• Sale Date:
  06 Dec 2011 ~ 6.30pm (NZ Time)
• Lot #:
  42
• Lot Description:
  Frances Hodgkins
  Frances Hodgkins, The Cow (Calf), c1938 Characterised by a painterly lyricism that hovers on the edges of abstraction, Frances Hodgkins' The
  gouache on paper
  520mm x 710mm
  signed Frances Hodgkins in brushpoint lower right, circa 1938
• Notes:
  Frances Hodgkins, The Cow (Calf), c1938 Characterised by a painterly lyricism that hovers on the edges of abstraction, Frances Hodgkins' The Cow (Calf) is a work that is rich both in metaphorical potential and in the formal possibilities of colour and line that are completely divorced from ostensible content. Standing in a pastoral environ that is fringed by houses, the central and dominant figure of the cow stands orientated towards a body of water that cascades down from the back of the painting and curves under a small bridge on the left-hand side of the painting. The animal in Hodgkins' The Cow (Calf) is a veritable Pandora's Box of implication where it could be seen as a symbol of sacrifice or, conversely, as an image of productivity and fecundity. In addition, the cow could also be seen as an agricultural motif, which connects the painting to the suite of works that Hodgkins completed between 1937 and 1939 which contained quotations from the farming industry such as tractors, farm carts and water tanks as well as to the number of farmyard and earlier threshing scenes that she completed. At this time, Hodgkins was staying in the village of Worth Matravers near Corfe Castle, from which she would journey into nearby farms and to those slightly further afield in Kimmeridge Bay and Wiltshire. The shimmering element of ambiguity that cloaks The Cow (Calf) is representative of Hodgkins' later work when her interests lay in the exploration of iconography, colour, form and line. There is a pleasing disparity in Hodgkins' painterly treatment of forms in The Cow (Calf) that shifts from the cursory to the definitive and allows for the viewer to read the familiar figurative aspects of the painting while a sense of the transitory and ephemeral is given over by the abstracted shapes and swathes of colour. Solid lines and thick areas of paint are used to spell out the rump and feet of the cow and the main background house and work to circumscribe the watery trail in the foreground. By comparison, small tufts of grass and a shrubby tree can be seen loosely brushed into the foreground, a barren tree is just discernable in the distance while perfunctory strokes of apricot and dark grey float on the top of the water, indicating a rapidity of movement and a rippling surface. A second farmhouse is hinted at in the background but, unlike its neighbouring residence, the curved sides and dabbed front door and windows anthropomorphise the property so that it takes on an almost ghoulish appearance. Connections between objects and ground continually shift and elide in Hodgkins' later work as the nuanced effects of changes in scale, perspective and depth of field are constantly explored. In The Cow (Calf), the relationship of the animal to the surrounding landscape is of key importance to the success of the painting. Although Hodgkins has done away with the simple structural devices, namely perspective and scale, the solidity of the cow, tongue of water and main farmhouse provides legibility and helps to unify the composition. The rich variations of colour and expressive handling of paint in The Cow (Calf) are couched within a clear overall design and cast the painting among those of the late 1930s that were referred to at the time as marvellous agglomerations of colour and shape . JEMMA FIELD
• Estimate:
  NZ$65,000 - 90,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.