Edna Boies Hopkins (October 13, 1872 – March 24, 1937) was an American artist who made

woodblock prints Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...

, based upon Japanese

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

art and

Arthur Wesley Dow Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 – December 13, 1922) was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator. Early life Arthur Wesley Dow was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1857. Dow received his first art training in 1880 from An ...

's formula of three main elements: '' notan'', a balance of light and dark, line and color.

Early life and education

Edna Bel Beachboard was born on October 13, 1872 in

Hudson, Michigan Hudson is a city in Lenawee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,307 at the 2010 census. The city is mostly surrounded by Hudson Township, but the two are administered autonomously. History Hudson was named for Dr. Daniel H ...

to Cotilda C. Sawyer and David J. Beachboard, vice president of Boies State Bank. Her sole sibling was Earl James, who died in 1887 at the age of 16 from

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

. On March 2, 1892, at 19 years of age, she married 27 year-old banker John Henry Boies. Like the Bearchboards, he was a prominent member of the community. Boies accepted a position in the banking industry in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and the couple moved there. He contracted tuberculosis and Edna and John moved to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

to recuperate in the drier climate. He died in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

on December 10, 1894. Edna Boies maintained a close relationship with her sister-in-law, Bessie Boies. After John Boies died, she enrolled in the

Art Academy of Cincinnati The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the U ...

in 1895. Edna studied illustration, life drawing, wood carving, and sculpture until 1899. While there, she met fellow student James Roy Hopkins of

Mechanicsburg, Ohio Mechanicsburg is a village in Champaign County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,644 at the 2010 census. History Mechanicsburg was platted in 1814. The village was so named for the fact a large share of its settlers worked as mechan ...

. She shared an interest in woodblock printing with fellow students,

Maud Hunt Squire Maud Hunt Squire (January 30, 1873 – October 25, 1954) was an American painter and printmaker. She had a lifelong relationship with artist Ethel Mars, with whom she traveled and lived in the United States and France. Early life and education ...

and Ethel Mars, who became members of the

Provincetown Printers Provincetown Printers was an art colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts during the early 20th-century of artists who created art using woodblock printing techniques. It was the first group of its kind in the United States, developed in an area when ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

, Massachusetts. Boies then moved to New York and beginning in April 1899, she studied with Evelyn Fenner Shaurman and Arthur Wesley Dow at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. She studied commercial art, composition, and watercolor until March 1900. Dow introduced her to ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock printing, and a formula of three main elements: ''notan'', a balance of light and dark, line and color. ''Circa'' 1900, Boies carved ''Enchanted Lilies'', one of her first woodblock prints.

Career

Edna Boies Hopkins, Butterflies, about 1914-1915, Cincinnati Art Museum

Boies taught traditional forms of art,

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

, and techniques that she learned from Dow at

Veltin School for Girls Veltin School for Girls was a private school founded by Louise Veltin in 1886 in Manhattan, New York. Veltin and Isabelle Dwight Sprague Smith were the school's principals. The school was initially located at 175 West 73rd Street, but moved in 189 ...

by March 1900. She married James Roy Hopkins on September 13, 1904. They travelled to the Far East and Africa and then moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. They lived there until the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when they returned to the United States and settled in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. A special exhibition of Hopkins' color woodcuts was held at the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

in fall 1914. An exhibit of her work was held at the Women's Art Club in December. Her husband's career required him to stay in Ohio, but Hopkins spent summers in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

. She rented a studio in New York over several visits to the city. The couple moved to Paris by 1920 and lived there for three years. It is thought that Hopkins stopped making works of art due to arthritis. Edna Hopkins died at Harper Hospital in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, most likely of ovarian cancer, on March 24, 1937.

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Early life and education

Career

References

Sources

Further reading