Dorothy Adlow – CSM – 29/03/1958

Exhibition: Durlacher Bros. New York 1958 – Eliot Hodgkin
Article: Contemporary Art in New York Galleries by Dorothy Adlow
Publication: Christian Science Monitor (29/03/1958)

… No more striking contrast to what many of these painters have to say could be found than the still-life water colors by Eliot Hodgkin. His small studies (Durlacher Bros.) are immaculate, meticulous depictions.

British Painter

The British painter works with utmost independence. He sets up a row of beets or turnips, or gourds of different color, or brunches of grapes, peaches, berries. With a patience that would do credit to one of the Dutch Little Masters like Pieter Claesz, or to one of the diligent painters of still life of the American Peale family, he executes each respective subject most attentively, conveying the illusion of fuzz on a peach, the frosty skin of a grape, the pores of lemon peel.
Some viewers may find the artist admirable as an illustrator for a seed catalogue or gardening journal. A critical point of view rather prevalent today discredits such a show of dogged patience and unsparing craft. Notwithstanding, it is something to admire, and Mr. Hodgkin’s little composition “Six White Feathers” is an undeniable gem of virtuosity in the art of trompe-l’oiel. These little feathers are so true to life that a viewer holds his breath lest he blow them away.

By Dorothy Adlow. Reprinted with permission from the March 29, 1958 issue of The Christian Science Monitor. © 1958 The Christian Science Monitor (www.CSMonitor.com).