Tauranga Art Gallery - Toi Tauranga

Double Portrait of Artist's Life - 23 Jul 2010

When some of Frances Hodgkins’ paintings end up in the hands of a Parisian gallery owner who has never heard of the artist, an Auckland art gallery curator is determined to get them back to New Zealand. So begins Jan Bolwell’s lively, witty and critically acclaimed play, Double Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins, about New Zealand’s most significant ex-patriate modernist painter of the 20^th century, Frances Hodgkins.

Double Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins will be performed at Tauranga Art Gallery on Friday 23 July, with two shows only: a matinee at 1pm and evening performance at 7pm.

Although Hodgkins lived a very public life through her work, her private life remained an enigma. Bolwell’s play explores the relationships Hodgkins had with friends, agents and family, all of which deeply influence her life and work. She locks horns with her parents who do not understand her need to go to Europe; she is initially hostile to an English art dealer who wants to promote and sell her work, but he subsequently becomes a true friend; she establishes a loving relationship with her great friend and fellow New Zealand painter, Dorothy Kate Richmond, and she is rescued from extreme poverty in London by an English friend and one of her students, Jane Ritchie.

Paekakariki writer and actor Jan Bolwell plays Frances Hodgkins, and is supported by John Wraight and Perry Piercy, two highly experienced Wellington actors who play multiple roles. The play is directed by veteran Wellington director, Ralph McAllister.

Double Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins complements the current exhibition of Hodgkins’ works in the Gallery, Frances Hodgkins: femme du monde. Dunedin-born Hodgkins is considered one of New Zealand’s most prestigious and influential painters, an esteem not bestowed upon her during her lifetime due to her oeuvre not conforming to the romantic landscapes of the time. However she gained a firm place in the 20^th century European art world particularly in London and Paris.

Double Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins is designed to be presented in art galleries, and the play has been in great demand throughout New Zealand. Theatreview critic John Smythe describes the play “like a painting emerging on the canvas as the artist’s brush strokes cast their spell, the play reveals itself as a rich and humorous blend of human drama, historical documentary and social satire.”

Tickets to Double Portrait: Finding Frances Hodgkins are $20 or $10 for students, and available at the Gallery. Bookings are essential on 07 578 7933.