The Ebbing Tide, Concarneau
Artist and role
Hodgkins, Frances Mary (New Zealand, b.1869, d.1947), Artist
Date
Circa 1927
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About this work
In October 1927 Frances was in Concarneau, ‘working like a fiend for fear that the weather will break’ and her money had done its usual trick of ebbing away. To make matters worse, ‘the tide is out – physically’ – and she had spent two days in bed, feeling very unwell. But she wrote to thank Dorothy Selby who had enclosed cash with her last letter and included some good news. ‘The dealer man from NZ, [Murray Fuller] has taken with him 5 of the 8 Drawings of Concarneau which I sent him & hopes to tempt collectors in Australia to buy them – I hope he will.'(1) The painting was bought by Frank Barron of Oamaru who lent it to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and then left it to the Gallery in his will. The painting is close in style to works she painted in Concarneau in 1911, when she wrote to her mother: ‘I go for walks by the sad sea walls – when it is too dark to paint – They are never sad for me I love them so & the gulls & the big sky overhead. Its grey moments are too big to allow for sadness really…'(2)
1. Letter to Dorothy Selby, 24 October 1927, Gill, pp 402-403
2. Letter to Rachel Hodgkins, c.15 October 1910, Gill, p 257
1. Letter to Dorothy Selby, 24 October 1927, Gill, pp 402-403
2. Letter to Rachel Hodgkins, c.15 October 1910, Gill, p 257
Measurements
534 x 450 mm sight size
Artist
Credit
Collection of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Bequeathed 1957 by Mr Frank Barron.
Accession number
11-1957
