Robert Hodgins was a generous friend. He spent countless happy hours in his kitchen cooking delicious meals for his guests. From time to time, he also spontaneously gifted paintings to the people who visited his studio, always willing to engage anyone curious to learn more about the progress he was making on the multiple canvasses lining its walls or drying out on the lawn. This poignant image of a child sitting on his mother’s lap, which Hodgins titled, ‘Picture for a Forlorn Office’, is a testament both to that extraordinary generosity, and to his mischievous sense of humour.

Although widely celebrated for his trenchant insights into the delusional aspirations of bullies and the physical and psychological frailties of both public figures and ordinary people, this work attests to a less obvious dimension of Robert’s exploration of human relations: his images of children navigating the often bewildering world of adults. In some cases these children watch from a safe distance, in others they reach up to an imposing female figure, or play in her protective presence. Here, the child is enveloped in the comfort of his mother’s lap, the canvas dominated by her red armchair.

Interestingly, the artist repeatedly used a similarly impressive red armchair to underline the self -important puffery of men from different walks of life, both militarily and civilian. But in this work the armchair has a more complex, more ambiguous function, at once surrounding the pair like a protective halo and catapulting them onto the surface of the canvas.

Often wickedly, and sometimes darkly humorous in his use of titles, Robert gave this painting to the current owner shortly after she accepted a challenging appointment for a demanding new academic post in late 2008. His deeply kind gesture followed her passing comment on what seemed like the wonderfully bemused expression on the child’s face. The canvas went on to transform a previously drab space, eliciting countless spontaneous comments not only from colleagues and students, but also from other visitors unfamiliar with the artist and his remarkable works.

Prof Sandra Klopper