James R. Hopkins was born in Irwin, Ohio, in 1877. His mother, Nettie Hopkins, was a self-taught watercolor artist. The young boy became enamored with his mother’s profession and later decided to follow in her footsteps. He left his electrical engineering studies at Ohio State University to pursue art at the Columbus Art School.

After graduation, Hopkins spent two years in Cincinnati painting with Frank Duveneck, who was head of the Art Academy. He then went on to New York City for two years to work as an illustrator. By 1902, he was ready to travel to Paris to study. There, he enrolled in the Académie Colarossi. Many of the French Impressionists were still active in Paris, and Hopkins spent many hours visiting the studios of Renoir, Degas, and Monet. These artists had a significant impact on him, and many aspects of Impressionism remained present throughout his career.

In 1904, Hopkins returned to the United States and married Edna Boies, who was also an artist. The couple traveled abroad and circulated among artists and intellectuals from around the world; they were invited to participate in numerous exhibitions.

World War I forced the Hopkins family to return to Cincinnati, where James joined the staff of the Art Academy. He later became an enlisted officer in the Army and instructed students in painting camouflage on range finders. When Frank Duveneck died in 1919, Hopkins was appointed head of the Art Academy. His paintings of Appalachia and the Cumberland mountain people became his most well-known works. Throughout his life, he and his wife frequently returned to Paris, where he painted portraits of upper-class women. Hopkins died in 1969 in Irwin, Ohio.

Studied

Columbus Art School; Art Academy of Cincinnati with Meakin; Cincinnati

Art Club with Duveneck; Academy Colorossi, Paris; Ohio State University

Member

ANA; Assoc. Societe Nat. des Beaux-Arts

Exhibited

AIC; CM; Atlanta AA; Univ. Kentucky Art Mus.; Salon Society des Beaux Arts;

Nat’l Academy of Design; Int. Art Exhibition, Venice; Ohio State Mus; Pan-Pac.

References

WW59; WW47; Jones and Weber, The Kentucky Painter from the Frontier

Era to the Great War, 55; Falk, Exh. Record Series