Portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin
Date
1979 - 1980
Sitter
Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910 - 1994, British) , Chemist, Chemist
Creator
Graham Vivian Sutherland (1903 - 1980, British) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (painting): 278mm
width (painting): 450mm
width (painting): 450mm
Subject
Description
Head and shoulders preparatory sketch for a portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin with grey backdrop. Hodgkin has white, straight hair, side parted and alert blue eyes. She wears a blue laboratory coat. The artist’s pencilled grid and numbering can be seen.
The painting shows the scientist in the last stages of her laboratory career, two years after her official retirement. However, at the time she sat for this portrait she was still working (and would continue to work until 1988) at the University of York, refining the structure of insulin in cooperation with Guy Dodson.
Dorothy Hodgkin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1947.
The painting shows the scientist in the last stages of her laboratory career, two years after her official retirement. However, at the time she sat for this portrait she was still working (and would continue to work until 1988) at the University of York, refining the structure of insulin in cooperation with Guy Dodson.
Dorothy Hodgkin was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1947.
Transcription
DOROTHY HODGKIN, O.M., F.R.S.
BY GRAHAM SUTHERLAND
BY GRAHAM SUTHERLAND
Object history
Presented by Mrs Kathleen Sutherland, 1980.
One of two preparatory sketches for an uncompleted portrait commission presented to the Royal Society by Sutherland’s widow. The second was forwarded to Dorothy Hodgkin to hang at her home, Crab Mill, Ilmington. A file letter from Hodgkin expresses her reaction to the picture and to Sutherland’s death:
“Dear Alex
David Phillips brought the Graham Sutherland sketch of me over to my lab and we brought it here last week. Thomas has hung it up where most people like to look at it. I find it sad myself – but I thank you and the Society very much for giving it to me.
It was very good knowing him, even that little time – for which too we must thank you all.
Yours ever
Dorothy.” [Letter, Dorothy Hodgkin, Crab Mill, Ilmington, Shipston on Stour, 22 July [1980] to Alexander Todd (in Royal Society provenance file)].
Ludmilla Jordanova has commented: “As it happens, the Royal Society also owns a preparatory sketch for another portrait of Hodgkin, by Graham Sutherland, a portrait left uncompleted at the time of the artist’s death in 1980.” She continues: “There is often something rather poignant about an uncompleted picture, especially when the reason is the artist’s death. Sutherland’s working methods are clearly visible in this instance.” [Defining Features: Scientific and Medical Portraits 1660-2000 by Ludmilla Jordanova (The National Portrait Gallery and Reaktion Books Ltd; London, 2000) pp. 158-159)].
One of two preparatory sketches for an uncompleted portrait commission presented to the Royal Society by Sutherland’s widow. The second was forwarded to Dorothy Hodgkin to hang at her home, Crab Mill, Ilmington. A file letter from Hodgkin expresses her reaction to the picture and to Sutherland’s death:
“Dear Alex
David Phillips brought the Graham Sutherland sketch of me over to my lab and we brought it here last week. Thomas has hung it up where most people like to look at it. I find it sad myself – but I thank you and the Society very much for giving it to me.
It was very good knowing him, even that little time – for which too we must thank you all.
Yours ever
Dorothy.” [Letter, Dorothy Hodgkin, Crab Mill, Ilmington, Shipston on Stour, 22 July [1980] to Alexander Todd (in Royal Society provenance file)].
Ludmilla Jordanova has commented: “As it happens, the Royal Society also owns a preparatory sketch for another portrait of Hodgkin, by Graham Sutherland, a portrait left uncompleted at the time of the artist’s death in 1980.” She continues: “There is often something rather poignant about an uncompleted picture, especially when the reason is the artist’s death. Sutherland’s working methods are clearly visible in this instance.” [Defining Features: Scientific and Medical Portraits 1660-2000 by Ludmilla Jordanova (The National Portrait Gallery and Reaktion Books Ltd; London, 2000) pp. 158-159)].
Associated place