W.J. Hopkinson

The life and work of artist William John Hopkinson

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Discovering Artist W.J. Hopkinson

June 14, 2016 Mark

W.J. Hopkinson painting of Haliburton District
Unsigned Circa 1950s painting showing Haliburton District

By Mark Skeffington

My discovery of Canadian artist William John Hopkinson happened by chance.

A woman who offered to sell me a Tom Roberts silkscreen – a copy of Road to the Village printed by Sampson-Matthews Ltd. in the 1950s – asked if I wanted to see a painting she had picked up at an auction. She was hoping I would buy it, too.

The painting was an unsigned 16 X 20 inch oil on artist panel (see photo above). On the back of the panel was written in blue ink: “An original oil painting done by the late W.J. Hopkinson in the late 1950s. Haliburton District.” The inscription continued: “Feb. 6, 1984. Violet F. Forsythe (Daughter of W.J. Hopkinson).”

incredible sky

I had never heard of the artist W.J. Hopkinson, but I was taken by the sky in the painting, broad palette knife strokes of intertwining pinks, blues, purples and skin tones. I didn’t like the bottom portion of the painting as much: a chaotic forested landscape. But the sky was incredible. I bought the painting. I don’t remember what I paid for it, but I think it was less than $200. That was how I discovered W.J. Hopkinson some 43 years after his 1970 death.

On the back of the frame was taped a clear plastic bag containing a card. On the cover was a printed sketch of “Bill” Hopkinson by his friend and fellow artist Isabelle Van Zant (see picture at top of Biography). Inside was typed out a brief biography of W.J. Hopkinson, giving details of his life and listing some businesses that had purchased his paintings.

That card gave me a starting point to search out more information on W.J. Hopkinson, and eventually – three years later – led to the creation of this website.

– @wjhopkinson.ca.
About the Writer: Mark Skeffington is an art collector & co-founder of FineArtCollector.ca, a Canadian fine art gallery; he lives in Niagara, Ontario, Canada.

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