[3] Hipkins arrived in Napier in 1922, as one of a number of La Trobe artists brought to New Zealand to improve the teaching of art in the country; other artists who came under the scheme included Robert Nettleton Field, Christopher Perkins and Francis Shurrock.

[5][6] During his eight-year stay in Napier, he met the Scottish artist Jenny Campbell.

They were married on 5 November, 1924, and together they exhibited works at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in 1927.

[7] In the wake of the Hawkes Bay Earthquake, which decimated Napier in February 1931, Hipkins returned to the town where he made numerous sketches and began work on Renaissance (1932), one of the more important art works to record the event.

[9] Hipkins did not produce a large number of finished works over the course of his life and ill health in his final years, further reduced his output.