Mary Kisler - Finding Frances Hodgkins

Frances Hodgkins in 1920. Photo: Ref: PAColl-5567 Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

Mary Kisler Photo: supplied

Mary Kisler is the Senior Curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Mary earned her Master's degree in Art History and Italian at the University of Auckland in 1994.

She has been a curator at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki since 1998, caring for a collection that spans from c1150 to 1950. With Massey University Press, she has recently published Finding Frances Hodgkins, which takes a fresh look at where, when and why Hodgkins painted some of her best-known works.

The book is timed to coincide with a major exhibition Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (4 May - 1 September), which tours Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin in 2020. In tandem with the exhibition is the publication of an exhibition catalogue/book by Auckland University Press, also called Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys, by Catherine Hammond and Mary Kisler. 

Kisler and Hammond will be discussing their book at the upcoming Auckland Writers Festival, details here.

Finding Frances Hodgkins

Cadaqués viewed from the bottom of our rastrell. Author’s collection.

Returning from the supermarket, Cadaqués. Author’s collection

Raoul Hausmann’s house in Sant Josep today. Author’s collection.

Three of the stations of the cross outside the church of Sant Agustí des Vedrà. Author’s collection.

View of the back of the church of San Miguel. Author’s collection.

The giant plaster egg on the roof of Salvador DalÍ’s summer house at Port Lligat. Author’s collection.

An old photograph showing the steps of the Dalt Vila (todocoleccion.net)

Still Life with Vase and Eggs [Flowers and Spanish Pottery?], c.1931, gouache on paper. Formerly Hertfordshire County Council collection.

Green Urn, c.1931, oil on canvas. Private collection.

Untitled [Santa Maria de la Neus] [Sketch for Hill Landscape], c.1935–36, graphite on paper. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Hill Landscape, 1936, gouache on paper. Private collection.

Monastery Steps, 1933–35, oil on canvas. Private collection.