Frances Hodgkins has caught the anxiety and vulnerability of this refugee family, mirroring the situation of many Belgians who, during World War I, made their way to Britain. They were billeted throughout the country, including St Ives in Cornwall, where Hodgkins was living at the time. This is one of Hodgkins' earliest oil paintings and it has some of the hallmarks of her watercolour painting, with blended colours and a loose vigorous style.

Hodgkins was born in Dunedin. She studied at the Dunedin School of Art but in 1901 left New Zealand to study at the London Polytechnic. In 1903 she exhibited at the Royal Academy, the first New Zealander to have the honour of being ‘hung on the line’. Living in Paris between 1908 and 1912, Hodgkins taught at the Académie Colarossi, the first woman on the staff there. From 1913 Hodgkins settled in England. Throughout her career she exhibited with many art groups and galleries, including the Lefevre Galleries in London.

Read an article about this painting that appeared in The Press.

Purchased with the assistance of the National Art Collections Fund, London, 1980
Oil on canvas
80/80
1916

Collection tags

anxiety, children (people by age group), families, group portraits, infants, mothers, People, refugees, smoke, women