PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Wellington Purchased from International Art Centre November, 2008

E H McCormick (1906-95) was born in Taihape. He left New Zealand in 1931 to study literature at Cambridge University. In 1945, having returned to New Zealand he was appointed chief war archivist in the Department of Internal Affairs.

In the late 1940s McCormick began researching the life of Frances Hodgkins. His discovery of a large cache of letters written by Frances Hodgkins to her family back in New Zealand, ignited a life-long interest in the struggles and achievements of New Zealand's most famous ex-patriate artist.

In 1954 McCormick published two volumes, The Expatriate and Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, along with a catalogue for an exhibition of paintings by Hodgkins and her circle held at Auckland City Art Gallery. McCormick then spent two years abroad gaining further material and meeting with friends and colleagues of the artist. His best known book, simply titled Frances Hodgkins, was published in 1984.