Ivon Hitchens

Waddington Galleries, London
Dr and Mrs N. Hawkins, Sydney; purchased from the above

This work is on its original stretcher and is not lined. The work is framed behind glass. The work has recently had a light surface clean completed by David Stein Conservation in Sydney. Stein also consolidated a small area approx 5 cm. round in the dark yellow (mustard) paint in the lower left hand side. The area of consolidation is in the far right of the mustard area. No retouching was done to this work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The English painter Ivon Hitchens is probably best-known for his idiosyncratic landscapes: long, broadly-painted post-impressionist mosaics of gestural brushstrokes applied in free, rhythmic pattern, which nevertheless convey a concise vision of the fields, woods and waters round his Sussex home. However, throughout his career the artist also produced interiors, still lifes and figure paintings; a landmark 1950 Leicester Galleries exhibition consisted entirely of nudes – 27 of them.

Writing of such works, Peter Khoroche has observed that 'sometimes colour is used constructively to suggest surface and volume – the body is modelled in paint – sometimes the female figure ... merely provides the starting point, the formal framework, for an exercise in colour composition which leaves naturalistic modelling far behind. Sometimes the body is firmly outlined; sometimes it almost dissolves beneath the juxtaposition of patches of pure colour. Sometimes the linear element is uppermost, to express tension, rhythm and vitality; sometimes colour-forms predominate, emphasizing the more static qualities of mass. Often these different elements are combined and opposites played off one against another to create a balanced and self-sufficient composition.'¹

Such is the case with the present work, a reclining nude from 1968. The figure is clear and central, deftly described in Matissean linear profile, with a subtle modelling of form in the buttock and thigh, neck and chest. However, the ostensible subject is blank-faced, and surrounded if not almost overwhelmed by a rough patchwork of colour-forms, beginning with the 'V' of the eponymous blue cushion in the lower right. Here we again see the influence of Matisse, but now more in the manner of the master's late papiers-collés. The dynamic, angular arrangement of the rainbow-motley colour gives the work an almost wholly abstract, musical quality, the typical, lyrical Hitchens play of seeing and feeling.

1.  Peter Khoroche, Ivon Hitchens (rev.ed.), London: Lund Humphries, 2007, pp. 100 - 101