'THE LATE MR. W. M. HODQKINS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 10 (Supplement)

'THE LATE MR. W. M. HODQKINS.

The influence of native talent, if not genius was perhaps never more strongly shown, than in the case of the late W. M. Hodgkins, who was i. skilled artist, even more than a good lawyer, and who was for so long a well-known figure in our midst, and is still keenly missed in home and artistic circles. For 22 years he was the president of the Otago Art Society, which, in a great measure, owed its inception to him ; and during the whole of that time he was a sympathetic and kindly friend of all young artists, helping them with his advice and kindly criticisms ; aiding, encouraging, and supporting them in the difficult and arduous tasks which they were about to undertake. Many a young person, who is now a more or less successful artist, owes his posi-. tion and gratified ambition to the kindly encouragement of this large-hearted man. As an artist Mr Hodgkins was entirely self-taught ; though, as a young man, he spent some time in the famous Latin quarters in Paris, the home of the artist community, where his love and knowledge of painting was fostered to the utmost. Art with him was a hobby, and not a trade, and during nearly the whole of his life it was his custom, not only to spend his holidays in sketching excursions, but to rise very early in the morning, and spend hours in his studio, when the rest of the world was asleep. He painted almost to the day of his death, and the unfinished picture which was upon his easel when he died is perhaps one of his finest works. It is entitled " And Light Still Lingers, Though the Sun be Gone," and presents a beautiful sunset and afterglow on the Taieri River ; and in the light of subsequent events the pathetic title seems almost prophetic. Certainly the talent of the artist, like the light of the setting sun, sheds a wide spread of effulgence after its sun has set. There can be no doubt that Mr Hodglrins's art work became stronger and better as time went on, and this in spite of many obstacles. Most of his friends are of the opinion that if he had given up his whole life to his art he would have been a famous painter. As it was, the demands of his legal profession were too exacting and constant to give him the freedom required for great creative work, and the man who might have been a great lawyer or a great painter, could hardly attain eminence in both. Still, in his special medium (water colour) he was an acknowledged master and

none of our younger artists have yet approached him in delicacy and precision of tone. The charm of his work consists chiefly in the exquisite tenderness of the colouring, the delicacy of gradation and tint ; also, the fine, atmospheric effects. None of these lend themselves well to reproduction, and the example that we offer does not do justice in any sense to Mr Hodgkins's special talent. " Rotten Row, Port Chalmers." — Is a literal interpretation of a wellknown and metaphorically used name. In this antipodean " row "we see, instead of fine horses and aristocratic riders, some derelicts of the seaflotsam and jetsam of the shipping trade slowly rotting on the beach, in fine contrast to a bright sky and seat, and the Union steamer in the middle distance, the whole forming a picture as true to nature as suggestive to the imagination.