A self-proclaimed ‘optimistic old sod’, Robert Hodgins sadly passed away on Monday 15 March at the age of 89.   Hodgins, who was suffering from lung cancer, was admitted to a hospital in the north of Johannesburg two weeks ago when one of his lungs collapsed.

Best known for his quirky nature and bold painting style, the artist was born in London and as a young child he gravitated to the Tate Gallery because it was, as he simply put it, ‘warm and open’. In 1938, when he was 18 years old, he immigrated...

A self-proclaimed ‘optimistic old sod’, Robert Hodgins sadly passed away on Monday 15 March at the age of 89.   Hodgins, who was suffering from lung cancer, was admitted to a hospital in the north of Johannesburg two weeks ago when one of his lungs collapsed.

Best known for his quirky nature and bold painting style, the artist was born in London and as a young child he gravitated to the Tate Gallery because it was, as he simply put it, ‘warm and open’. In 1938, when he was 18 years old, he immigrated to South Africa but was to return to London in 1944 to study art at Goldsmiths College.

On his return to South Africa, Hodgins taught at the Pretoria Technical College, worked as a journalist and art critic, and later lectured in the Fine Art Department of the University of the Witwatersrand, from which he retired in 1983.

Despite many years of professional practice and having exhibited since the early 1950s, it was in 1981 - at the age of 61 - that the artist was really taken seriously. This resulted in a major retrospective which was hosted by the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in 1986.

Hodgins enjoyed collaborating almost as much as his solo pursuit of painting. Early in his career he exhibited with Jan Neethling a series of some 60 experimental silkscreens of the gangster called 'Pretty Boy Floyd'. He cited this as a true ‘corroboration’ of minds.

The artist's best-known collaborations were his multi-media work produced with William Kentridge and Deborah Bell. Hodgins began exhibiting with Bell in 1983 and their subsequent association began with 'Hogarth in Johannesburg', followed by the 'Little Morals Series', 'Easing the Passing (of the Hours)', 'Ubu 101', 'T&I' and 'Memo'. Their 10 year working relationship culminated in an exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Hodgins was a five-time recipient of various Vita art prizes, either as quarterly or overall winner pre-1997, and was a finalist in 1998.

The artist’s last major solo exhibition was hosted by the Goodman Gallery in 2009 in Cape Town. Also in 2009, Gallery AOP in Johannesburg exhibited a smaller exhibition of etching and water-colour works – ‘Private Faces in Public Places’.

The Goodman Gallery plans to exhibit a major exhibition of Hodgins’s work later this year in June. The exhibition will coincide with the anniversary of the artist’s 90th birthday.