Joan Hodes

Born in Hampstead, London, in 1925, Joan Blairman was the second daughter of Philip Blairman, an antique dealer, and his wife Celia.{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Biography |url=https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=5285 |access-date=2 October 2023 |website=Suffolk Artists}} Her love of art and mountainous landscapes developed in Llandudno, North Wales, where her family had a holiday home and where they subsequently lived during World War II. At Gloddaeth Hall School for Girls in Llandudno, her artistic skills were encouraged, and at the age of 15, she was awarded certificates from the Royal Drawing Society in 1940. Her family relocated to New York the same year, where she attended Mamaroneck High School, winning a part-time art scholarship in 1942 before returning to Britain in 1943.{{Cite news |last= |date=11 June 1942 |title=Art Students take prizes in contest |pages=6 |work=The Daily Times, Mamaroneck}}

After the war, in 1945, Hodes attended the Slade School of Fine Art, studying under Franklin White and graduating in 1948.{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Biography |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG187231 |access-date=2 October 2023 |website=The British Museum}} Several life drawings from her time at the Slade are held in the UCL Art Museum collection, including a drawing of Quentin Crisp, a frequent life model at art schools in London and the home counties.{{Cite web |last=Stevens |first=Vic |title=Quentin the Model |url=https://crisperanto.org/modelyears/VicStevens.html |access-date=10 October 2023}} After graduating from the Slade, Hodes spent a year in Paris at the Académie Julian and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where she continued to develop her interest in drawing.{{Cite web |last=Hodes |first=Joan |title=Biography |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O198473/landscape-north-wales-drawing-hodes-joan/ |access-date=2 October 2023 |website=The Victoria & Albert Museum|date=5 November 1989 }} From 1947 to 1953, the Austrian expressionist Oskar Kokoschka accepted her as one of his small number of pupils while living in London. She recalled his training being 'a revelatory experience', teaching her to look at a subject more intensely as if she were seeing it for the first time, which led to her using a more contrasting palette with broader, bolder brush strokes.{{Cite book |last=Buckman |first=David |title=Artists in Britain since 1945 |publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd |year=1998 |isbn=9780953260959 |pages=748}}

Her early work, a series of pastel drawings and watercolours, owed a lot to Kokoschka's teaching, but later influences included Scottish artists Joan Eardley, Anne Redpath and John Huston.{{Cite web |last=Hodes |first=Joan |title=Biography |url=https://www.camdenprintmakers.co.uk/hodes/ |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=Camden Printmakers}} English art historian Michael Kauffman, writing in a solo exhibition catalogue in 1994, felt that her oil paintings also used bold colours in the "manner of Van Gogh".{{Cite book |last=Kauffman |first=Michael |title=Exhibition Catalogue: Joan Hodes |publisher=Boundary Gallery |year=1994 |location=London |pages=4}} Although Kokoschka's expressionist style is evident in much of her work, where she juxtaposed figurative elements and abstract forms to create depth and a sense of mystery, his influence never compromised the variety of styles she used. Hodes used a number of different media, often in the same work, including pastel, chalk, charcoal, watercolour, and pen and ink, in a limited palette and sometimes sparingly to allow the paper to show through. The Suffolk coast near Aldeburgh, Snape, and Orford was a typical subject for Hodes, who also painted landscapes in Italy, Ireland, and Spain. Hodes' many sketchbooks revealed her desire to make studies en plein air in order to capture the unpredictable conditions of her favourite places: the windswept coasts of Suffolk and the mountains of Ireland, Wales, and the Mediterranean. She sketched out her scenes in situ before returning to her studio to create the final painting.{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Fishermen |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/fishermen-123843 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=Art UK}}

Beginning with the discipline of her training at the Slade, the subsequent development of her training in Paris, and the inspirational teaching of Kokoschka, Hodes' professional career spanned almost seven decades. Married in 1951 to Dr. Charles Hodes, the couple had three children: Deborah, Matthew, and Charlotte, who is also an artist. During the 1950s, Hodes continued to work, but, with limited time to paint while she raised her family, she produced a series of pastel drawings and watercolour compositions of her children using strong, contrasting colours that had an intimacy without sentimentalising their subject. In the 1960s, as her family grew older, Hodes taught art in secondary and adult education and began to work in oil, concentrating on landscape, mostly in locations she knew well in Britain and Europe.

For her first solo show at the Foyer Gallery in London in 1962, The Connoisseur concluded that "from the interest shown by visitors in the work of this new artist, I predict that Mrs Fairfax-Jones has picked yet another winner. Joan Hodes' work will surely soon appear in the West End".{{Cite journal |last=The Connoisseur's Diary |date=April 1962 |title=The Art of Joan Hodes |journal=The Connoisseur |volume=149 |issue=602 |pages=255}}

Wild, open landscapes and her representation of reflections, light, and weather are consistent features in Hodes' compositions, but her bold use of colour is also a recurring theme. In 1970, a critic for Arts Review commented that colour was the primary quality of Joan's work, "where an intensification of observed natural hues gives an almost fauve effect".{{Cite journal |last=Walker |first=Richard |date=1 Aug 1970 |title=Joan Hodes |journal=Arts Review |volume=22 |issue=15 |pages=497}}

At her solo show at the Everyman in 1971, she showed watercolours and pastels depicting the English countryside, not only in the various seasons but also reflecting the ever-changing face of the climate. Arts Review critiqued the show, saying that she caught the sudden showers that come in the summer where sunlight glistens through rain, heightening rather than diminishing the intensity of colour, which suited the free impressionistic style of her work.{{Cite journal |last=Craig |first=Lorraine |date=25 September 1971 |title=Joan Hodes: Everyman Foyer |journal=Arts Review |volume=23 |issue=19 |pages=573}}

In a group exhibition at the Phoenix Gallery in Suffolk in 1987, described as a "lavish display of hedonism and intellect", Hodes was singled out for her work, which was described as "singing colour, with brushwork to match, somewhat akin to the idyllic visions of Bonnard".{{Cite news |last=Moss |first=Colin |date=August 1987 |title=A lavish display of hedonism and intellect |work=East Anglian Daily Times}}

As a member of the Stone Eye artists group, Hodes was one of the artists in residence at Orford Ness in 2009.{{Cite web |last=Hodes |first=Joan |date=2009 |title=From the Bailey Bridge |url=https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/88156 |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=National Trust Collections}} The Stone Eye Group comprised a number of Suffolk artists who spent a year trying to capture the landscape in paint and sculpture.{{Cite web |title=The Stone Eye Group |url=https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=5645 |access-date=15 October 2023 |website=Suffolk Artists}} They worked at the Orford Ness shingle spit, which was a restricted military testing area for most of the 20th century and which the National Trust opened to the public in 1995.{{Cite web |last=Woodger |first=Andrew |date=18 November 2009 |title=Orford's art of war and nature |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8366000/8366714.stm |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=BBC Suffolk}} The artists' group was made up of John Barker, Joan Hodes, Heather Hodgson, Ali Hollingsworth, Martin Laurance, and Katharine Roney and they spent over a year sketching and painting on what locals' call 'The Island', although it is connected to the mainland at Aldeburgh, where an exhibition was held in November 2009. Hodes, who lived in Orford, said, "the skies are stunning, and you know all the little bits of wire and all the unexploded ordnance where you're not supposed to go off the path because you'll get blown up? I love all that".

Hodes was a member of the Camden Printmakers. Practising all forms of etching: drypoint, monoprint, intaglio, photo-etching, hard and soft grounds, and pure aquatint, the group started with house exhibitions before progressing to annual shows in local galleries.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.camdenprintmakers.co.uk/ |access-date=19 October 2023 |website=Camden Printmakers}} The group is also involved in the ‘Art for Hospitals' movement at the Royal Free Hospital and University College Hospital.

During her life, Hodes built a community of artist friends in Suffolk and was a member of the Suffolk Group of Artists, formed in 1989.

Hodes held her first solo exhibition of colour drawings at the Everyman Foyer Gallery in London in 1962, returning to the gallery in 1971 for a further solo exhibition of watercolours and pastels.{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Barbara |date=24 March 1962 |title=Joan Hodes |journal=Arts Review |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=14}} Her one-woman London shows have also included the Sue Rankin Gallery in 1986, the Boundary Gallery in 1994, and the Highgate Gallery in 2005. The John Russell Gallery in Ipswich hosted three solo shows in 2000, 2003, and 2005, and Hodes participated in the gallery's group shows from 1999 to 2014. Hodes exhibited three landscapes at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1972: a still life in 1985 and an etching, Fisherman with Boats, in 2001.{{Cite web |last=Royal |first=Academy |date=1972 |title=Exhibition Catalogue |url=https://chronicle250.com/1972#catalogue |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018}}{{Cite web |last=Royal |first=Academy |date=1985 |title=Exhibition Catalogue |url=https://chronicle250.com/1985#catalogue |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018}}{{Cite web |last=Royal |first=Academy |date=2001 |title=Exhibition Catalogue |url=https://chronicle250.com/2001#catalogue |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769–2018}}

Group shows included the Contemporary Portrait Society, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Leicester, Mercury, and Ben Uri Galleries, the Hampstead Artists Council, and the Women's International Art Club (WIAC). Hodes was a member of the WIAC from 1971 to 1978, having been introduced to the club by her neighbour and WIAC chair Christiane Kubrick, and served on the club's executive committee from 1972 to 1975.

Her work is included in the following public collections in London: the Royal Free Hospital, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Slade UCL Art Museum collection, and Paintings in Hospitals.

Into her nineties, Hodes continued to paint at home, take art classes, and exhibit. She participated in etching classes and group exhibitions at Holmes Rd., Kentish Town, London, initially taught by Peter Frith, RA. Aged 96, Hodes died at her home in Keats Grove, Hampstead, in early 2022, surrounded by her family.

• Everyman Foyer Gallery, London, 1962 & 1971
• Campbell & Franks, London, 1981
• Sue Rankin Gallery, London, 1986
• Boundary Gallery, London, 1994
• West Cork Art Centre, Ireland (sponsored by the British Council), 1995
• Printworks, Colchester, 1996
• John Russell Gallery, Ipswich, 2000, 2004, 2005
• Highgate Gallery, London, 2005

• Royal Academy 1972, 1985 and 2001
• Mercury Gallery 1971–1985{{Cite web |last=Artists |title=Joan Hodes |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artists/hodes-joan-19252022 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=Art UK}}
• Leicester Gallery 1966–1968
• Ben Uri Gallery 1963, 1965, 1969 and 1982{{Cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://www.benuricollection.org.uk/exhibitions.php |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=Ben Uri Collection}}
• Contemporary Portrait Society 1963, 1964, 1970 and 1982
• The Women's International Art Club, 1970–1978
• Hampstead Artists' Council 1964–1971
• The Royal Society of British Artists, 1964
• The Society of Women Artists, 1963{{Cite book |last=Baile de Laperrière |first=Charles |title=The Society of Women Artists Exhibitors, 1855-1996 |publisher=Hilmarton Manor Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780904722307 |pages=235}}
• Hampstead Artists' Council 1964–1971
• New Grafton Gallery, 1973

• The British Museum{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Information |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG187231 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=The British Museum}}
• The Victoria and Albert Museum{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Artist |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?id_person=A24825 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=The Victoria and Albert Museum}}
• The Slade Art Collection, University College London{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Orford Ness - Fisherman with Dogs |url=https://collections.ucl.ac.uk/Details/collect/20009826 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=UCL Culture Collections Online}}
• The National Trust, Westley Bottom
• The Royal Free Hospital, London
• Paintings in Hospitals, London{{Cite web |last=Joan |first=Hodes |title=Fishermen, Aldeburgh |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/fishermen-aldeburgh-229801 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=Art UK}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://artuk.org/discover/artists/hodes-joan-19252022 Joan Hodes - Art UK]
• [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?id_person=A24825 Joan Hodes - Victoria and Albert Museum]
• [https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/88156 Joan Hodes - National Trust Collections]
• [https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=5285 Joan Hodes - Suffolk Artists]
• [https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=5645 Stone Eye Group]

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Category:1925 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:English watercolourists

Category:English landscape painters

Category:English women painters

Category:20th-century English painters

Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art

Category:Painters from the London Borough of Camden

Category:People from Hampstead

Category:People from Llandudno

Category:20th-century British women painters