The official artist on Captain James Cook's second expedition on the Resolution (1772-1775), Hodges produced a vast array of plein-air sketches that captured the immense grandeur and wonder of these southern shores. From the relative shelter of the ship's great cabin, with its windows providing superb views astern and on both sides, Hodges was able to paint freely the coastal views that continually rolled past his floating studio. This experience and the resulting studies became an essential visual and mental archive, which Hodges would plunder for his sumptuous oil paintings over subsequent years.
Two Tigers in a Rocky Landscape, which was attributed to Hodges and Gilpin in the early 1960s, is a deeply evocative and mysterious painting that lures the viewer in. A connoisseur of atmospheric lighting and theatrical effects, Hodges brings an unfettered sense of drama to this cavernous scene. Here nature is celebrated in its most exotic, majestic and powerful form.
This is a truly awe-inspiring picture that reflects Hodges' respect for an unspoiled wilderness, even if it is an amalgam of different viewpoints, landforms and recollections.
- Aaron Kreisler
curator
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Angels & Aristocrats unmasked
The exhibition"Angels and Aristocrats - Early European Art in New Zealand Public Collections" is on at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery until September 16.
