Robert Hodgins was born in Dulwich, England in 1920. In 1954 he became a Lecturer at the School of Art,Pretoria Technical College, where he remained until 1962. Then he took up a position as Journalist and Critic for Newscheck magazine. Between 1966 and 1983 he was a Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand Fine Art Department. At the end of 1983 he retired to take up painting full-time. Some paintings convey a feeling of deep seriousness and sadness; the paintings depict a sense of confusion that many people experience. However Hodgins believed that being an artist is about creating something new, an artist perfects the art of ingeniously reinventing content within society.
“Being an artist is about putting something into your subject matter that isn’t inherently there,” wrote Hodgins in 2000. “You are not at the mercy of your subject matter, it’s the content, and what you put into it, what you do with it, what extract from it, and what you put it with, that is so exciting. If you are aware of this, then you begin to build on the content of your whole life. Before you know where you are, you’re already thinking about the next work, and you could live to be 300. Paintings can be one-night stands or lifetime love-affairs – you never know until you get cracking”
Collections
VODACOM, Cape Town, South Africa
Anglo American, Johannesburg, South Africa
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sandton Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa
South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa
University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries, Johannesburg, South Africa
William Humphries Art Gallery, Kimberley, South Africa
Teaching, Lectureships and Workshop
1966-83 Senior Lecturer in painting, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South
Africa
1954-62 Lecturer, School of Art, Pretoria Technical College, Pretoria, South Africa
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2004 Hodgins at Goodman, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2003 Robert Hodgins Simon Mee Fine Art, London, UK
2002 50 Years a Painter, Retrospective exhibition, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg South Africa
2002 50 Years a Painter, Retrospective exhibition, Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
2002 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2001-2 50 years a Painter, Retrospective exhibition,SASOL Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch,
Stellenbosch, South Africa
2001 Robert Hodgins Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2001 50 years a Painter, Retrospective exhibition, University of Potchefstroom, Potchefstroom, South Africa
2000 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1998 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1995 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1992 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1990 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1987 Robert Hodgins Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1986 Retrospective, Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown, South
Africa
1960 Robert Hodgins Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1959 Robert Hodgins South African Association of the Arts, Pretoria, South Africa
1958 Robert Hodgins Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1956 Robert Hodgins Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Artist Statement
Group Exhibitions
2016 New Revolutions: Goodman Gallery at 50 , Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2016 New Revolutions: Goodman Gallery at 50 , Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 From Sitting to Selfie, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2003 Absolutely/Perhaps, group exhibition with William Kentridge, Johannes Phokela, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Sam Nhlengethwa, Simon Mee Fine Art, London, UK
1999 <>FAST FORWARD, Van Reekum Museum of Modern Art, Appeldoorn, Netherlands
1997 Michel Luneau Gallery, Nantes, France
1997 Ubu 101, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
1997 Collaborations, with William Kentridge and Deborah Bell, Johannesburg Art Gallery,Johannesburg, South Africa
1997 Cram, SA Association of the Arts, Cape Town, South Africa
1995 Mayibue iAfrica, Africa ’95 Festival, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, UK
1995 Seven Stories of Africa, Africa ’95 Festival, curated by David Koloane, coordinated by Felicity Lunn and Catherine Lampert, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
1995 Panoramas of Passage, curated by Clive van den Berg, in association with University of the
Witwatersrand Art Galleries Recipient, Helgaard Steyn, Award for painting, Meridian International Centre, Washington DC, USA
1994 Displacements, curated by David Bunn and Jane Taylor, an exhibition of works on paper, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
1993 Portraits in the Round, a ceramic exhibition in collaboration with Deborah Bell and Retief van Wyk,South Africa
1992-3 Easing the Passing (of the Hours), computer animation and graphics in collaboration with William Kentridge and Deborah Bell, South Africa
1992 IGI Life Vita Now Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1992 Le Bal des Tables Artistiques, Mayoral Ball, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1991 Little Morals Series, with Deborah Bell and William Kentridge, Cassirer Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1990 Life Vita Now Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1989 Hogarth in Johannesburg, book launch, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa
1987 AA Life Vita Art Now Awards Exhibition, Johannesburg, South Africa
1987 Hogarth in Johannesburg, Cassirer Gallery, Johannesburg and national tour, South Africa
1986 AA Mutual Life Vita Arts Now Awards Exhibition, 3rd quarter Award Winner,
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1985 Cape Town Triennial, SA National Gallery, Cape Town and major museums, South Africa
1984 Four Johannesburg Artists, with Ricky Burnett, Jo Smail and Ilona Anderson, South African National
Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
1984 Four Johannesburg Artists, with Ricky Burnett, Jo Smail and Ilona Anderson, Goodman Gallery,
Johannesburg, South Africa
1983 Exhibited with Deborah Bell, Ann Sassoon and Frank van Schaik, Carriage House Gallery, Midland,
Canada
1980 Wits University Lecturers, Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South
Africa
1980 Pretty Boy Floyd, series of graphics, Market Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1978 Paintings with sculptures Two man show with Jan Neetling, Market Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1975 Goodman Gallery with Jan Neetling, Johannesburg, South Africa
1971 Two man show of Cliches Verres, with Jan Neetling, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1971 Two man show of Cliches Verres, with Jan Neetling, Association of the Arts, Cape Town, South Africa
1970 Two man show with Jan Neetling, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1961 Two man show with Jan Neetling, Lidchi Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1954 Transvaal Art of Today (Best Young Artist Award), Pretoria Centenary Exhibition, Pretoria, South Africa
Academic Record and Residencies
Postgraduate
1950-1953 Goldsmith’s College of Art, University of London, National Diploma in Design,(Painting), London,England
Awards and Merits
1995 Helgaard Steyn Award for painting, South Africa
1992 1st quarter Award winner, IGI Life Vita Now Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1990 3rd quarter winner, Life Vita Now Awards, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1987 Winner of AA Life Vita Art Now Awards Exhibition, Johannesburg, South Africa
1986 Vita Quarterly Award Winner, Johannesburg, South Africa
1955 Transvaal Art of Today Best Young Artist Award, Pretoria, South Africa
Selected Articles and Reviews
2013 Mpho Moshe Matheolane, An Artist for all Seasons, Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg, South Africa
2010 Anthea Buys, Shapes of a Man, Johannesburg, South Africa
Publications
2012 Anthea Buys (ed), A Lasting Impression: The Robert Hodgins Print Archive, Wits Art Museum, South Africa
2008 Retief van Wyk (ed), The Ceramic Art of Robert Hodgins, Bell-Roberts Publishing, Cape Town, South Africa
2002 Robert Hodgins, The Human Race, Goodman Gallery Editions, South Africa
2002 Atkinson, B, Robert Hodgins, Tafelberg, Cape Town
Films
2014 It Began with a Walk Screening at the Pavilion, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town Art Fair
Courtesy of Goodman Gallery
