Ivon Hitches
Born – London, England 1893
Died – Sussex, England 1979
Ivon Hitches applied the principles of structural design to his paintings. He coupled this with the exploration of colour as an integral element of pictorial composition. By his own admission he was “…a sucker for noble art” and his early admiration for Purvis de Chavannes and Piero della Francesca is reflected in his mural and stained glass designs. Hitches studied at London’s Royal Academy and held his first solo exhibition in 1925. The influence of Cézanne’s painting and, by the early 1930s, of Braque’s Cubism was complimented in Hitches’ work by exuberant colour experimentation inspired by Matisse. From 1940 onward West Sussex was his home and the inspiration for his painting. What interested him was not the subject but the way in which he could express it without resorting to descriptive realism. By orchestrating shapes and formal elements within two-dimensional space he painted a parallel for the natural world, evoking mood and creating beauty with lyrical, soft-edged abstractions. His so-called “tone poems” were barely tainted by changing artistic fashions. Garden Cove exemplifies this tendency and established his reputation within a painting tradition that was intimately English.
Masterpieces:
- Winter Lawn and Fir Trees
- Flower Pieces
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.