Edna Boies Hopkins facts for kids
Edna Boies Hopkins (born October 13, 1872 – died March 24, 1937) was an American artist. She was famous for making woodblock prints. Her art was inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e prints. She also followed ideas from Arthur Wesley Dow. He taught that art needed three main things: notan (a balance of light and dark), line, and color.
Her Early Life and Learning
Edna Bel Beachboard was born on October 13, 1872. Her hometown was Hudson, Michigan. Her parents were Cotilda C. Sawyer and David J. Beachboard. Her father was important at Boies State Bank. She had one brother, Earl James, who sadly died young.
In 1892, at 19, she married John Henry Boies. He was a banker from a well-known family. They moved to Chicago for his banking job. John became sick. To help him get better, they moved to Colorado. Sadly, he died in Denver in 1894.
After John died, Edna started studying art. In 1895, she joined the Art Academy of Cincinnati. She studied many things there. These included illustration, drawing people, wood carving, and sculpture. She studied until 1899. While there, she met James Roy Hopkins. He was also an art student. Edna also shared her interest in woodblock printing with friends. These friends included Maud Hunt Squire and Ethel Mars. They later became part of the Provincetown Printers group.
After Cincinnati, Edna moved to New York. In 1899, she began studying at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She learned from Evelyn Fenner Shaurman and Arthur Wesley Dow. She studied commercial art, how to arrange pictures, and watercolor. Dow taught her about ukiyo-e. This is a type of Japanese woodblock printing. He also taught her his art formula. This formula used notan (light and dark balance), line, and color. Around 1900, Edna made one of her first woodblock prints. It was called Enchanted Lilies.
Her Art Career and Travels
By 1900, Edna Boies was teaching art. She taught at the Veltin School for Girls. She taught traditional art forms. She also taught Art Nouveau style. And she shared the techniques she learned from Arthur Wesley Dow.
If you are in the country, there will be wild carrots, poppies, golden rod, asters, thistles, blue and white, and butterflies. Sit down and watch poppies bend when the wind blows. Notice the lines of the poppies to the ground, how they grow; notice them when a storm is coming… See the color of the green leaves when the sun shines through them. Lie on the ground and see the shapes between the leaves, its mass against the sky… As soon as you take the veil off your eyes, see nature, gather impressions, you will be a greater artist.
—Lecture given to Hopkin's class by Isabelle Sprague Smith
On September 13, 1904, she married James Roy Hopkins. They traveled to faraway places. These included the Far East and Africa. Then they moved to Paris, France. They lived there until World War I started. Because of the war, they returned to the United States. They settled in Ohio.
In the fall of 1914, the Cincinnati Art Museum held a special show. It featured Edna Hopkins' color woodcuts. Another exhibit of her work was held in December. This was at the Women's Art Club.
Her husband's job kept him in Ohio. But Edna often spent summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She also rented an art studio in New York City. By 1920, the couple moved back to Paris. They lived there for three years. It is believed that Edna stopped making art. This was likely because she developed arthritis.
