Provenance

Estate Late Robert Hodgins.

Notes

The present lot is a masterful late-career work that encapsulates Robert Hodgins' evolving approach to form, colour, and human presence. Dominated by a warm peach-orange palette, the painting presents three figures emerging from the composition, their forms loosely constructed through gestural brushstrokes in grey and lighter orange. Their defining posture—hands tucked into pockets—suggests nonchalance, complacency, or even quiet detachment, a recurring theme in Hodgins’ explorations of power and passivity. The indistinct boundaries between figure and background create a sense of fluidity, reinforcing the artist’s late stylistic shift toward abstraction. Despite the painting’s simplicity, there is a subtle tension in the faceless anonymity of the figures, inviting reflection on identity, authority, and the dynamics of presence and absence. Hodgins’ signature wit lingers beneath the surface, as these men, though seemingly unengaged, remain central to the composition—perhaps an ironic nod to figures of influence who remain passive yet ever-present.