Joan HODES

Joan studied at the Slade School of Art for three years,then selected to work under Oskar Kokoschka for the following six years, interrupted by a year in Paris studying at Académie Julien and La Grande Chaumière.
The influence of Oskar Kokoschka is present in the work of Joan Hodes. The fluid line, the palette, the interpretation of form owes much to the influence and inspiration of her teacher between 1947 and 1953. The impact Kokoschka had on Joan’s work served to enhance her singular style of fresh and immediate observation.

Joan went on to teach Art in secondary and adult education while living and working in London and Suffolk. She now spends her time travelling between her two homes but also, each year, travels to Ireland and Italy. Early last year she spent time in Spain in Frigiliana, an old village inland from Malaga, where she was able to capture the atmosphere of the old village and the mountains surrounding it.

Joan draws in pastel, charcoal and watercolour and always outdoors. It is these drawings that serve to stir her imagination as she transposes the memories and images into oils. The oils are always painted in the studio partly because they are quite large and partly because it is too complicated using oil paints outdoors where it can be too windy or wet, especially in places such as Suffolk and Ireland.
“There is something wonderful about studying all the work one has done on the spot, very quietly, in the studio.
I can see the subjects in my head and can start to reinterpret the work in oil paint. I love to work that day and the next day and on and on until some new interpretation appears.”

Joan’s fresh and almost naive approach to landscape is immediately appealing and her show is a wonderful capture of Suffolk, Ireland and Spain.

Noel Oddy and Laurie MacLaren February 2005

Curriculum Vitae:

The Slade School of Art 1945 - 48
Académie Julien, Paris 1948 - 49
La Grande Chaumière, Paris 1948 - 49
Studied with Oskar Kokoschka 1947 - 53

Selected one-person exhibitions:

Foyer Gallery, London 1962 - 71
Campbell & Franks, London 1981
Sue Rankin Gallery, London 1986
Boundary Gallery, London 1994
John Russell Gallery, Ipswich 2000
John Russell, Gallery, Ipswich 2003
Highgate Fine Art,London 2003,2005

Selected Group Exhibitions:

Contemporary Portrait Society, Agnews 1963
Leicester Gallery 1966
Mercury Gallery 1971
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 1972,84,2001
V & A Museum,Treasures of the Print Room 1977
V & A Museum, 20th Century Watercolours 1984
Turberville Smith,Conservation Management 1988
John Russell Gallery, Ipswich - Winter 1998,1999

Work in the Collections of:

Yorkshire Education Authority
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Nuffield Trust
The Bank of Ireland
Paintings in Hospitals