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HOPKINS, Elisabeth

Born
Gilkicker, England, 1894
Died
Saltspring Island, British Columbia, 1991
Biography synopsis
Elisabeth Margaret Hopkins immigrated to Canada from England in 1954. She began painting early in childhood, and her paintings retained what has been referred to as a naive or primitive style. Her career as an artist began later on in her life at the age of eighty-one, when a small painting was purchased for $5 at a local arts and crafts fair by Vancouver artist John Korner. Soon after, Xisa Huang, the director of a Vancouver art gallery, visited Hopkins and purchased the rest of her paintings. She exhibited work in the 1970s and 80s at the Bau Xi Galleries in Toronto and Vancouver, and her children's book "The Painted Cougar" was published in 1977 by Talon Books. At the age of eighty-eight she was the subject of a National Film Board documentary entitled "Hoppy: A Portrait of Elisabeth Hopkins," in which she is interviewed while painting.
Media used
Painting
File & Archive locations
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
Artexte Information Centre, QC - Documentation Centre
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
London Public Library, ON
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
University of Calgary Library, AB
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
Hamilton Public Library, ON - Local History and Archives Department
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
University of British Columbia - Rare Books and Special Collections
University of Victoria, BC - Special Collections
Vancouver Public Library, BC - Fine Arts and History Department
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
Boutilier, Alicia & Tobi Bruce. The Artist Herself : Self-portraits by Canadian Historical Women Artists / L'artiste elle-même : autoportraits de femmes artistes au Canada. Kingston, ONT.: Agnes Etherinton Art Centre. Hamilton: Art Gallery Hamilton, 2015
Browne, Colin. Hoppy, a portrait of Elisabeth Hopkins [videorecording]. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1984
Purdie, James. "Shedding new light on the twilight years." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 9 Sept. 1978: 33
Rule, Jane. "Elisabeth Hopkins." Vancouver Calendar Magazine (Oct. 1981): 29-31
Stebbins, Joan. The Magical World of Elisabeth Hopkins. Lethbridge: Southern Alberta Art Gallery, 1982
Thomas, Audrey. "The Unwalled Garden, Elisabeth Hopkins Finds Wonder Everywhere." Interface 4.8 (1981): 8-13
Tippett, Maria. By a Lady. Toronto: Viking, 1992

Writings by
Hopkins, Elizabeth. The Painted Cougar. Vancouver: Talon Books, 1977

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