Eliot Hodgkin, painter

I stumbled on the painter Eliot Hodgkin by way of a blogpost by my FB friend Stephen O'Donnell, also a painter. (I wrote about Stephen here a while back.) The post in question is called "Random XVIII," and it is indeed a random and yet deliciously connected array of paintings and photographs. Just fascinating. (And this one is XVIII? There are seventeen more of these collections to wallow in? Oh, my heart!)

What stopped me, though, in a stream mostly of images of human beings, was this painting, One Lemon Quartered, from 1972:

Exquisite! (I do love still-life.)

Eliot Hodgkin (1905–1987) was a British artist. There is a great website devoted to him, his life, his work. He worked first in oils, and then in egg tempera. His subject matter is wide-ranging.

Hodgkin said, "I try to look at quite simple things as though I were seeing them for the first time and as though no one had ever painted them before." I think he succeeds. See what you think. (Click on the images to view them large on black.)

A Christmas Present, 1963

Five Oyster Shells, 1961

Milkweed Seeds, 1941? 1964?

Two "Lady Derby" Tulips, 1948

Gulls Eggs in a Box, 1957

A Solitary Boot, 1943

Three Nectarines in White Paper, 1957

He also did (wartime) landscapes.

An Old Stump near Panbourne, 1947

Villars-sur-Ollon, n.d.

The Valley of the Shadow, 1945

St. Paul's and St. Mary Aldermary
from St. Swithin's Churchyard, 1945

St. Paul's from Fell Street, 1944

I have not begun to get to the bottom of what-all Eliot Hodgkin painted, but so far I am mightily impressed. I am very glad to have discovered this new-to-me artist.