Wind and Dazzle

The Art of Charles S. Hopkinson

(1869-1962)

May 3 to June 30, 2001

VOSE GAILILERKES Of BOST(ON Sporklil/g Oceol/ al MOl/chesler, ca. 1920 Watercolor on paper 13 Xx 20 X inches H-48-S $11,000

FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CHARLES HOPKINSON FIRST EXHIBITED HIS We are pleased to present the following dazzLing watercolors at Vose Galleries in the early selection of oils and watercolors together with an 1930s when he was an active member of the informative essay by Hopkinson scholar Leah Eve. In ] 945 Robert C. Vose organized a one-person Lipton. We are indebted to Ms Lipton for her signi- exhibition of oils and watercolors by Hopkinson. ficant contribution to the scholarship of Boston art After his death, howevel~ Hopkinson was largely and culture. overlooked until 1988, when Leah Lipton organized This exhibition would not have been possible a major exhibition of his at the Danforth without the participation of the Hopkinson family. Museum of Art in Framingham, Massachusetts. She We would also like to thank Wendy Hurlbut of the argued eloquently and persuasively for Hopkinson's Archives of American Art, Smithson..ian Institution place among accomplished American modernists. and Lee B. Ewing for their help securing photo- Three years later, Vose held the first of three retro- graphs of Hopkinson's early drawings. spective shows. These exhibitions prompted a reevaluation of Hopkinson's career and works. As Rabat C. Vase /Tl an artist he was truly remarkable for his produc- Abbot W. Vase tivity, skill, and the fresh creative spirit with which he approached his subjects.

Cover illustration: Catalogue by Nancy Allyn Jc1rzombek

Kite Flyillg, Ipswich, FOl/rtlt (~rIlIl.l/l Photography by Clive RllS~ ca. 1955 Photogrnphy of dnnvillgs in the Chi1rles Hopkinson imd \\lfltercolor on pnpC'l' Hopkinson family pl1pers, Archives of American Art, 12 ~ x 18 ~ inches SmithsoniClI1 Instit'utinn, by Ll:'E'B. E'v\'ing H-47-S Printed by Capibl! OffsL:tComp,lJl)', Inc., Concord, NH $15,000 Copyright CD200l, Vnsc G<.llieries of Boston, Inc. WIND AND DAZZLE: THE WATERCOLORS OF CHARLES HOPKINSON

by Leah Lipton Danforth Museum of Art

THROUGHOUT HIS LONG AND EMINENTLY successful career, Charles Hopkinson (1869-1962) was acclaimed for his vivid and highly accom- plished portraits, among them, likenesses of President Calvin Coolidge, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. The roster of his portraits included important professors, lawyers, bankers and other notable individuals. From this work, he earned a comfortable income, even during the barren Depression years of 1929-1935. He was surrounded by loving women: his wife Elinor, her four sisters, Charles Sidney Hopkinson a watercolor in and his five daughters, whose childhood portraits Bermuda, ca. 1945 are among his most charming works. Courtesy of the Bostoll Pllblic Library Prillt Divisioll In those same years he also produced an impres- sive body of watercolors, painted largely for his own pleasure and for the enjoyment of his family and friends. These quick personal studies must have infiltrating American art. It is worth noting that afforded him relief from the demands of his portrait Hopkinson made a sharp distinction in style clients for satisfying or even flattering likenesses. In between his portraiture, painted in oil, and his the watercolors he was free to seek his own rewards. watercolors which he must have felt were in some He could play with abstracted forms and indulge in way less serious. These were small works on paper, fluid brush work and brilliant color. These small requiring less commitment than the oils in both time works on paper represent the most personal and and materials. Thus they were suitable for a more intimate expression of his artistic output. He was radical experimental style. The portraits were com- libe