Sir Howard Hodgkin
Born – London, England 1932
Sir Howard Hodgkin’s contribution to British painting is difficult to define, as his work does not correspond to any particular art movement. He studied his craft at Camberwell School of Art, London, between 1949 and 1959 and at the Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, between 1950 and 1954. One of his tutors at Bath was William Scott, whose modernist aesthetic guided Hodgkin’s notions of painting towards the consideration of it as a physical object. His early interest in Indian painting has undoubtedly informed the pure brilliance of his palette. His continued Mughal miniatures and frequent visits to India. His extensive travels elsewhere in the world have inspired his subject matter. Hodgkin’s paintings, incorporating their frames, appear purely abstract. They are, in fact, based on experiences or encounters. Dinner at Smith Square, for example, implies that a complete narrative, suggested by the title, is held within the layers of colour and superimposition of brush marks, which are as varied as the words within a wide vocabulary, evoking a vivid story.
Masterpieces:
- Interior at Oakwood Court
- Menswear
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson