James R. Hopkins Oil Painting Portrait of Businessman with Pencil

Item Details

James R. Hopkins (Ohio/Kentucky/France, 1877 – 1969)
Portrait of businessman with pencil
Oil on canvas
Signed to lower right
James Roy Hopkins (1877–1969) was born in the rural farming community of Irwin, Ohio, where his mother encouraged his early artistic interests. Though he initially pursued electrical engineering at Ohio State University, his passion for art soon prevailed. After brief study at the Columbus School of Art, Hopkins enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati under Frank Duveneck. In 1900, he moved to New York City to work as a medical illustrator, and two years later traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Colarossi. Immersed in the Parisian art world, he socialized with leading artists such as Renoir, Monet, and Degas—an influence that led him toward looser brushwork and a refined use of light. In 1904, he married fellow artist Edna Boies and the couple traveled extensively through Europe, Asia, and North Africa before returning to Ohio at the onset of World War I, where Hopkins began teaching at the Cincinnati Academy of Art. While at the Academy, the Hopkins spent summers in Kentucky’s Cumberland Mountains, where James found inspiration in the strength and dignity of the local people. His sensitive portrayals of this community became his most celebrated body of work. After Frank Duveneck’s death in 1919, Hopkins succeeded him as head of the Academy, later serving as artist-in-residence and department chair at Ohio State University. Following Edna’s death, he returned to his family farm in Ohio, continuing to paint and teach until his retirement in 1947.

Condition

- craquelure and light accretions throughout; abrasions to right of portrait and to edges; toning and stains to canvas verso; unevenly secured canvas to verso corners.

Dimensions

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Item #

ITMGR19452