Roland Hipkins (1894–1951) was an English artist who worked extensively in New Zealand between 1922 and 1951. He is especially noted for his work done in the wake of the

1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Si ...

. Works by Hipkins are held by the Hawkes Bay Cultural Trust, the Royal College of Art in London, and the Sarjeant Art Gallery in Wanganui.

Education

Hipkins was born at Coseley, in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of England on 25 November 1894. He studied at the

Bilston School of Art Bilston School of Art was built in 1897 on Mount Pleasant, Bilston to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It was designed by town engineer, Captain Wilson, who reputedly based the design very closely on an institution in Glasgow. ...

before serving as a soldier in Malta and France between 1915 and 1918. In September 1919 he enrolled at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, London and in 1921 produced a woodcut titled ‘Mining’ for the student magazine published by the Royal College of Art. After completing his studies in July 1922 he moved to Napier, New Zealand.

Career

Hipkins arrived in Napier in 1922 as one of a number of La Trobe artists brought to New Zealand to improve the teaching of art in the country; other artists who came under the scheme included

Robert Nettleton Field Robert Nettleton Field (3 March 1899–18 February 1987) was a New Zealand artist, sculptor, potter and art teacher. He was born in Bromley, Kent, England on 3 March 1899. Field was described as “a quiet man who has never sought publicity and ...

, Christopher Perkins and

Francis Shurrock Francis Aubrey Shurrock (1887–1977) was a notable New Zealand sculptor and art teacher. He was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England in 1887. He studied under Édouard Lantéri at the Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) ...

.Michael Dunn, Roland Hipkins: Artist/Educator, Hawkes Bay Museum and Art Gallery, 2007 Hipkins took up the position of art teacher at the

Napier Technical College , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

, and helped establish the Napier Society of Arts and Crafts in 1923. During his eight-year stay in Napier, Hipkins met the Scottish artist

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. They were married on 5 November 1924 and together they exhibited works at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in 1927. In 1930, the couple moved to Wellington where Hipkins was appointed as an art teacher at the Technical School of Art. In the wake of the Hawkes Bay Earthquake, which decimated Napier in February 1931, Hipkins returned to the town where he made numerous sketches and began work on ''Renaissance'' (1932), one of the more important art works to record the event. ''Renaissance'' was exhibited at the National Centennial Exhibition of New Zealand Art in 1940.National Centennial Exhibition of New Zealand Art Catalogue
editor: A. H. McLintock, Department of Internal Affairs, 1940, Wellington. Hipkins did not produce a large number of finished works over the course of his life and ill health in his final years further reduced his output. He died in Wellington on 19 May 1951.

Exhibitions

Hipkins exhibited with the:
Canterbury Society of Arts, 46th Annual Exhibition, Christchurch, 1926Canterbury Society of Arts, Christchurch, 1932
*Auckland Society of Arts, 56th Annual Exhibition, 1937. *The New Zealand Academy for Fine Arts, Wellington, Annual Exhibition, 1939. *Centennial Exhibition of International and New Zealand Art, 1939–1940, National Art Gallery, Wellington.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hipkins, Roland 1894 births 1951 deaths British Army soldiers 20th-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand male artists People from Coseley Alumni of the Royal College of Art British emigrants to New Zealand British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from the West Midlands (county)