Robert Griffiths Hodgins
(1920 – 2010)
“For me, it is very simple. The act of painting at a particular moment is able, for reasons I neither understand, nor even try to understand, to open up the whole world of my experience, my thinking, my aspirations.” Robert Hodgins
London-born Robert Hodgins is a late bloomer. After immigrating to South Africa in the 1950s, a brief flurry of artistic activity was followed by a lengthy career as an art educator and occasional critic – notably, he took over Esme Berman’s role as critic at Newscheckmagazine. After retiring from the Fine Art department at Wits University in the 1980s, he re-established himself as a painter, holding a mid-career survey show in Grahamstown, in 1986. Since then Hodgins has consistently presented new work on successive solo outings, chiefly in Johannesburg. Now firmly established as one South Africa’s leading painters, a British dealer has in recent years introduced Hodgins to London audiences.
The artist’s influence in Johannesburg artistic circles is pronounced, Hodgins having previously collaborated with Deborah Bell and William Kentridge, notably in print and film. Aspects of his prodigious and versatile production, which includes works on canvas, ceramic and paper, are detailed in two recent monographs, Robert Hodgins(2002), edited by Brenda Atkinson, and The Ceramic Art of Robert Hodgins(2008), edited by long-time ceramic collaborator, Retief van Wyk. A new book surveying his print output is due out shortly, edited by artist Hentie van der Merwe.
A prolific artist centrally preoccupied with figuration, Hodgins’ work is distinguished by his expressive use of colour, abbreviated sense of composition, essentially modernist approach to human form, tentative engagement with abstraction, and often satirical tone. His laconic brushwork and overall deftness of expression, particularly in creating human figures, has resulted in Hodgins being described as a painter of “casual authority” by artist and critic Sue Williamson (Williamson, 2004:158). Commenting on the affinity his work shares with that of another great English existentialist, painter Francis Bacon, critic Brenda Atkinson observes:
“Hodgins has opinions and is not shy of intellectual examination, but he has few rules. Although he seems, much like Bacon, constitutionally incapable of producing work that is not beautiful, no matter how sinister the matter, he does not set out to be a painter of beautiful things.” (Atkinson, 2002:17)
The artist’s oeuvre is particularly marked by the repeated appearance of certain stock characters – playboys, businessmen, generals and old molls, in particular. The frequency of their repetition underscores the serial nature of Hodgins’ output as a painter. It also highlights a persistent tension between repetition and nuance in his work and between likeness and difference. Strongly influenced by disparate trends in European modernism his paintings share particular thematic overlap with German Expressionism. Equally noteworthy is the influence of his English working class background on his witty, often caustic, artistic worldview.
1920
Born in Dulwich, London
1934
Leaves school to become a newspaper delivery boy
1938
Emigrated to South Africa
1940
Joins the Union Defence Forces; serves in Kenya until 1941, and then in Egypt until 1944
1944
Returns to England
1945
Discharged from military service
1946
Emergency Teachers’ Course – Camden Town, London
1947-50
Teaches in London’s East End
Studies art part-time –Goldsmiths College, London University
Recommended for full-time study
1951
Arts and Crafts Certificate, Goldsmiths College, London University
1953
NDD, Goldsmiths College, London University
Returns to South Africa
1954
Appointed lecturer, School of Art, Pretoria Technical College
1962
Begins work as a journalist and critic –NewscheckMagazine
1966-83
Appointed lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand Fine Art Department
1983
Retired to paint full-time
1946
Emergency Teachers’ Course, Camden Town, London
1951
Obtained Arts and Crafts Certificate, Goldsmiths College, London University
1953
Obtained NDD (National Diploma of Design), painting major, Goldsmiths College, London University
1954
Group exhibition, Transvaal Art of Today, Pretoria Centenary Exhibition
1955
First Solo exhibition, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
1956
Solo exhibition, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
1958
Solo exhibition, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
1959
Solo exhibition, South African Association of Arts, Pretoria
1960
Solo exhibition, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
Second Quadrennial Exhibition of South African Art
1961
Joint exhibition (with Ernst de Jongh), Gallery 101, Johannesburg
1970
Joint exhibition (with Jan Neethling), Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
1971
Joint exhibition (with Jan Neethling), Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg
1975
Joint exhibition (with Jan Neethling), Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1978
Joint exhibition (with Jan Neethling), Market Gallery, Johannesburg
1979
Cape Town Biennale, South African National Gallery
1980
Joint exhibition (with Jan Neethling), Market Gallery, Johannesburg
Group exhibition, Wits University Lecturers Exhibition, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
1983
Group exhibition (with Deborah Bell, Ann Sassoon and Frank van Schaik), Carriage House Gallery, Johannesburg
1984
Group exhibition, Four Johannesburg Artists, South African National Gallery, Cape Town(and National Gallery tour), with Ricky Burnett, Jo Smail and Ilona Anderson
1985
Group exhibition, Tributaries, an exhibition of South African art touring South Africa and West Germany
Cape Town Triennial, South African National Gallery
1986
Retrospective Exhibition, Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown
Group exhibition, AA Mutual Life Vita Arts Now Awards Exhibition, 3rdQuarter Award, Johannesburg Art Gallery
1987
Solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Group exhibition, AA Life Vita Art Now Awards Exhibition, Johannesburg Art Gallery
Group exhibition (with Deborah Bell and William Kentridge), Hogarth in Johannesburg: A Series of Etchings, Cassirer Gallery, Johannesburg
1990
Group exhibition, Life Vita Now Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery
Solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1991
Group exhibition (with Deborah Bell and William Kentridge), Little Morals Series, Cassirer Gallery, Johannesburg
1992
Solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Group exhibition, IGI Life Vita Now Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery
1993
Group exhibition (with Deborah Bell and William Kentridge), Easing the Passing (of the Hours), computer animation and graphics, Cassirer Gallery, Johannesburg
Group exhibition, (with Deborah Bell and Retief van Wyk), Portrait in the Round,Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1994
Group exhibition, Displacements, curated by David Bunn and Jane Taylor, an exhibition of works on paper,North West University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
1995
Solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Group exhibition, Mayibue iAfrica, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London as part of theAfrica ’95 Festival
Group exhibition, Seven Stories of Africa, South African participation curated by David Koloane, Whitechapel Gallery, London as part of the Africa ’95 Festival
Group exhibition, Panoramas of Passage, curated by Clive van den Berg, Meridian International Centre, Washington DC, USA in association with University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries
1997
Group exhibition, South African Artists, Michel Luneau Gallery, Nantes, France
Group exhibition, Ubu 101, exhibition with both South African and International Artist, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Group exhibition (with William Kentridge and Deborah Bell), Collaborations, Johannesburg Art Gallery
Group exhibition, Cram, A.V.A Gallery, Cape Town, in collaboration with the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1998
Solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1999
Group exhibition, Fast Forward, Van Reekum Museum of Modern Art, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Group exhibition, World Artists at the Millennium, United Nations, New York
2000
Solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
2001
Solo exhibition, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town
Retrospective Exhibition, 50 Years a Painter, University of Potchefstroom, Potchefstroom
Joint Exhibition (with Jan Neethling), Art on Paper Gallery, Johannesburg
Group exhibition, Baggage, (an Hourglass Project), United States, touring Atlanta, Charlotte and Roswell in 2002
2001-02
Retrospective Exhibition, 50 Years a Painter, Sasol Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch
2002
Solo Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Retrospective Exhibition, 50 Years a Painter, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Retrospective Exhibition, 50 Years a Painter, Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
Solo exhibition, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town
2003
Solo exhibition, Simon Mee Fine Art at the Arndean Gallery, Cork Street, London
Group exhibition, Absolutely/Perhaps, Simon Mee Fine Art, London
2004
Solo exhibition, Hodgins, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Art Basel with Goodman Gallery
Art Basel Miami Beach with Goodman Gallery
2005
Solo exhibition,New Oil Paintings and Monoprints,Simon Mee Fine Art, Queensgate, London
Art Basel with Goodman Gallery
2006
Solo exhibition, From a Far South, Simon Mee Fine Art, Cork Street, London
2007
Solo exhibition, Hodgins, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg and Cape Town
Group exhibition, Art on Paper, Johannesburg
2008
Solo exhibition, Simon Mee Gallery, Cork Street, London
Solo exhibition, Ceramics, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town
Public Collections – South Africa
- VODACOM, Cape Town
- Anglo American, Johannesburg
- SASOL Limited, Johannesburg
- Rembrandt van Rijn Foundation, Stellenbosch
- South African Breweries Collection, Johannesburg
- South African Broadcasting Corporation, Johannesburg
- SANLAM Corporate Art Collection, Bellville
- MTN Collection
- Billiton, Johannesburg
- Vodacom Collection, Cape Town
Galleries & Museums – South Africa
- Johannesburg Art Gallery
- Pretoria Art Museum
- Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
- William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley
- Sandton Art Gallery, Johannesburg
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth
- Durban Art Gallery
- Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
Universities – South Africa
- University of South Africa, Pretoria
- University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries, Johannesburg
Private Collections
- His works can be found in numerous collections in South Africa and Abroad
1955
Received the Best Young Artist Award from Transvaal Art of Today at the Centenary Exhibition, Pretoria
1986
Vita Art Now, 3rdQuarter Award Winner
1987
Vita Art Now, Overall Award Winner
1990
Vita Art Now, 3rdQuarter Award Winner
1992
Vita Art Now, 1stQuarter Award Winner
1995
Awarded the Helgaard Steyn Award for painting
