The Fine Art of [Edna Boies Hopkins]

The Fine Art of [Edna Boies Hopkins] // 07.31.2026

Edna Boies Hopkins (1872-1937), Petunia, c.1907-1908, Color woodblock print,
6 15/16 x 4 5/8 inches. Image courtesy of Madron Gallery

Edna Boies Hopkins’ Petunia print can be seen as an advertisement, an illustration of the artist’s entrepreneurship and marketing.

In 1907 Hopkins' created Petunia for a short-lived British periodical called The Bibliophile, “a magazine and review for the collector, student and general reader.” Petunia was printed alongside three other reproductions of Hopkins’ flower studies and available for purchase through the journal. With her business savvy on full display, Hopkins offered mail-order, handprinted, signed by the artist, limited-edition prints at a higher sale price. Hopkins used a bamboo covered baren to rub and press the paper to the inked block, a traditional Japanese woodblock technique that results in beautiful variations in the imprint, making each print unique with various levels of color saturation.

Alongside the Japanese materials Hopkins printed with, her composition also speaks to a Japanese influence. The image is asymmetrical, reflecting the Japanese style that she embraced while studying under Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) at Pratt Institute. Dow introduced her to ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that he collected, as well as traditional Japanese woodblock printing methods, which she later studied during a trip to Japan in 1904. While living in Paris from about 1905 to 1915, Hopkins could easily study Japanese prints in local museums and art galleries. Paris, of course, was one of the first cities where Japanese prints had been “discovered” by Western artists like Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Claude Monet (1840-1926), and other French Impressionists. She was also a frequent visitor of Monet’s home in Giverny where she was likely inspired by the real flowers in his gardens as well as the Japanese prints Monet displayed throughout his home.

Petunia is indicative of Hopkins’ style, featuring a botanical subject in silhouette set against a plain background. The work demonstrates the influence of Japanese masters like Matsumura Keibun (1779-1843) and his depictions of nature. The image is visually descriptive, showing the flower in profile; little black lines indicate the texture of the flower’s funnel-like base. Another small bud on the right is just beginning to emerge. It’s around 1907 that Hopkins abandoned the use of a dark key-block outline, therefore the green and red of the flower stand directly against the background.

Detail of Petunia, c.1907-1908. Image courtesy of Madron Gallery

The edge of the paper on Madron’s print indicates that it is one of the original bound-in editions that was published in The Bibliophile. The bound-in prints were marked with a circular white “peapod” chop, an artist’s stamp or seal, rather than the red, rectangular chop Hopkins typically used during this period and appear on her known handprinted works. The bound-in print is a flatter impression with little variation in color saturation, but exhibits visible vertical striations, the same that appear on the handprinted works, suggesting The Bibliophile editions were made from Hopkins’ block, though perhaps by someone else.

The advertising of her prints in The Bibliophile, alongside Madron’s print, speak to the popularity of Hopkins’ prints and the growing market for her work. While some readers purchased the handprinted edition, Madron’s print is evidence that others carefully removed the bound-in print from the pages of the magazine, framed, and displayed her work as well. The exact edition number of Hopkins’ mail order Petunia prints and The Bibliophile edition is unknown to scholars, but Petunia is an example of Madron’s commitment to research and attention to detail.

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