Manapouri: Art, Power, Protest
A family goes sketching
William Mathew Hodgkins, Frances Hodgkins, Isabel Hodgkins & Katherine Holmes, Hodgkins Family album, 1880s-1890s, various media, Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection, Alexander Turnbull Library
A family goes sketching
In the late 19th century, Lake Manapouri was a popular sketching ground. Artists travelled to the isolated and rugged landscape alone or in small groups, hoping to commune with nature and art.
This sketchbook was produced by members and friends of the Hodgkins family. William Matthew Hodgkins (1833?-1898) founded an Art Club in Dunedin that made summer excursions to paint en plein air (out doors) in locations like Manapouri. At least four artists have contributed to this sketchbook. Frances Hodgkins (1869-1947) painted the head and shoulder portraits; her sister Isabel Field (1867-1950) made the botanical sketches.
The most intriguing work in the sketchbook is Katherine Holmes's (1849-1925) drawing of a woman artist talking to a mosquito about going sketching at Lake Manapouri.
William Mathew Hodgkins biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website
Frances Hodgkins biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website
Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image
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| Collection | Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection, Alexander Turnbull Library |
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