Untitled (Textile design no I)

Frances Hodgkins was at a low ebb when, in her late 50s, she began work as a textile designer. After years of poverty and strain, she was on the verge of abandoning England and returning home to New Zealand. She had even booked her fare to Australia when her plans were ‘knocked sideways’ by the offer of a job – ‘and instead of Melbourne it’s Manchester.’

Hodgkins worked full-time for just six months, but the steady income was a relief. ‘I can hardly believe,’ she wrote to her mother, ‘that the terror of these past distracted years has passed & that life has eased for me.’