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Artist Database
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-meme : 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
