Play links artistic wont

Passing a small antique shop next to The White Swan in Greytown recently, I noticed an interesting watercolour, its bold, simplified shapes and broken colours typical of modernist paintings of the (roughly) 1920s to 40s, a favourite period of mine.
It turned out to be by Gwen Knight, who was a talented musician who met Frances Hodgkins, and was encouraged by her to pursue painting. Knight and Hodgkins spent time together in St Tropez and Ibiza in the 1930s, and apparently Knight lived for a time in Martinborough, which is how the watercolour may have ended up in Greytown.
Gwen Knight's paintings do not command anywhere near the prices of her mentor, now considered New Zealand's most significant expatriate painter of the 20th century. Knight's oils are priced at $200 to $300 while a less-than-A4-sized early watercolour by Hodgkins recently netted $33,000 at auction.
But Gwen's fresh, sketch-like painting of baches at Whitianga was a modest price and represented, for a fan like me, a little piece of New Zealand modernist art history.
When I shared this story with Jan Bolwell, who presents her play Double Portrait - Finding Frances Hodgkins at Aratoi this month, she said it was typical of the sorts of connections that come to light when she has toured the play to art galleries around the country, which she has been doing to critical acclaim since 2009.
"I've had lots of fascinating conversations with people after the show," says Bolwell.
"People who own paintings by Hodgkins, or are related to her come up to me after the show. When we played at Mahara Gallery (Waikanae) her niece was in the audience, and in Whanganui, there were people connected to one of her pupils, Edith Collier, who was born there."
Aratoi will display two of Hodgkins' watercolours from The Rutherford Trust Collection for the performance: Shells (1934) and Empty drums and barrel (1939).
Bolwell, who plays Frances, was inspired by the artist's character and drive, as well as the fact, like the artist, she was born in Dunedin.
Bolwell says she is lucky Hodgkins was an avid letter writer, which was useful in developing her character for the stage. But recorded facts were a springboard for the playwright's own creative interpretations, especially around the subject of the artist's relationships with her dealer Arthur Howell, and friends Dorothy Richmond and Jane Saunders.
Double Portrait - Finding Frances Hodgkins, Saturday, February 12, 2pm and 7.30pm. Bookings essential (06) 370-0001.