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Story: Regional cultural life

Dunedin women painters

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Dunedin women painters

A group of young women participate in a painting class in Dunedin in the early 1890s. The class was probably conducted by William Mathew Hodgkins, a lawyer who became the leading spirit in Dunedin's flourishing art community during those years. Hodgkins was himself a significant painter, and established both the Otago Arts Society and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. His two daughters, Isabel and Frances, became noted painters. Frances can be seen in this photo at back, third from left. While in Dunedin she studied under the Italian painter Girolamo Nerli.

Using this item

Hocken Collections, University of Otago

Reference: S14-138h

Permission of the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Further information may be obtained from the Library through its website.

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How to cite this page

Pip Howells, Regional cultural life – Early regional arts and culture, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/44486/dunedin-women-painters (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Pip Howells, published 14 March 2014.