Portrait of Kitty West 1939

In 1937 Hodgkins wrote to her art dealer, Duncan Macdonald of the Lefevre Gallery, ‘I had the happiest long week end with the Wests & have painted 3 quite attractive canvases inspired by objects observed by me out of the corner of my subjective eye, when really looking for black berries – you’ll see! They are 2 delightful Dears Anthony & Kitty – I loved my visit to them – ’ (Buchanan, p.69). Hodgkins wrote this letter during her stay with the author Anthony West and his wife, the artist Kitty, at Tisbury in Wiltshire in August 1937. Following her visit she made a double portrait of the couple, now in the Museum of New Zealand.