Frank Hodgkinson

Frank Hodgkinson (1919-2001) was one of Australia’s foremost abstract painters and artists. He was drawn to the Australian landscape in general and Aboriginal culture in particular in all its manifestations.

With the outbreak of World War II he joined the Army and served in the Middle East, North Africa, New Guinea and Borneo as an official war artist. Following the war he studied and worked in Europe, especially Spain. He won the first Helena Rubinstein Traveling Scholarship in 1958.

Hodgkinson moved back to Australia in 1970 and in 1971 took up residence in the bush north of Melbourne at Dunmoochin on the invitation of Clifton Pugh. Hodgkinson married Kate Ratten in 1976 then moved to Kenthurst, outside Sydney. Hodgkinson became a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999 for services to the visual arts.

His curiosity with Aboriginal art and culture called him to the Top End for long periods of time throughout since the 1980s. Arnhemland especially made a deep impression on him, and he returned several times to this spirited country over a ten year period. Hodgkinson subsequently authored ‘Kakadu and the Arnhem Landers’, one of three diaries (‘Paris Sketchbook’ and ‘Sepik Diary’ being the others) in which he illustrated his hand-written text with detailed sketches and washes.

“Frank Hodgkinson is a prodigy. He is a man so various that he hardly gives you time to focus on any single one talent. He is a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a designer of habitats and ambiences. His creative energy is enormous. His curiosity is at once that of a child and a mature philosopher trying to make sense of the cosmos over which he has ranged with hunger and delight” – Morris West.

Frank Hodgkinson’s work is held in many of the major public and private collections in Australian, London and Europe.

Artwork

  • Frank Hodgkinson – Surfer
  • Frank Hodgknison – Two Nudes I
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Watering Hole Zimbabwe
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Echidna Chasm
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Water Lillies JAJA Billabong
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Venetian Balcony
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Vale Of Kashmir
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Sacred Kingfisher
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Mortuary & Mummification
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Morten Bay Fig
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Le Voyeur
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Edge of Flinders Range
  • Frank Hodgkinson – From The Africa Diary
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Bound Eagle
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Ancestors II
  • Frank Hodgkinson – African Cavalcade
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Evolution’s
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Sunset Arnhem Land
  • Frank Hodgkinson – I Want You Green
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Bungle Bungle Dry
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Forms Forming
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Soaring The Bungles
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Crocodile (Septych/7 panels)
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Through The Net The Winter Solstice Arnhemland
  • Frank Hodgkinson – The Hunted
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Sunset on Mt Brockman
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Salt Whelm
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Salt Crust
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Primordial Hunt
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Hunter X
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Hunter III
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Hunter II
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Hunter B
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Hunter A
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Heliolatry
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Heliography
  • Frank Hodgkinson – Cave