Sotheby's S│2 gallery exhibits 100 newly unearthed works on paper by Roger Hilton

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


Sotheby's S│2 gallery exhibits 100 newly unearthed works on paper by Roger Hilton
Roger Hilton, Untitled, 1975. Courtesy Sotheby's.



LONDON.- From 6 June to 4 July 2019, Sotheby’s S|2 gallery is presenting an exhibition of never-before-seen works charting the final years of Roger Hilton’s pioneering, and provocative, career. Presented in collaboration with Jonathan Clark Fine Art and co-curated by Kenny Schachter, the exhibition showcases approximately 100 newly unearthed works on paper, painted from the confines of the artist’s bed between 1973 and 1974, and is accompanied by the publication of a new artist monograph.

Speaking about the show in his accompanying catalogue essay, art world commentator and exhibition co-curator Kenny Schachter explains: “Hilton’s drawings were composed with an economy of line and means—there were no bells or whistles (few big flashy canvases, for instance).Yet, Hilton’s last body of work, on intimately scaled sheets of paper, were fresh, inventive and expressed an exuberance beyond the life lived by the artist. I love and am touched by Roger Hilton’s art—not enough people know about it, but they should.”

Following his return home from the Second World War, Hilton mastered a new, avant-garde style of abstract work which propelled him to the forefront of the British art scene. Rendered with gestural and lively brushwork, his style appealed unreservedly to the contemporary taste and cemented his reputation among the most experimental and innovative British artists of the fifties and sixties. When, in 1965, Hilton settled in St. Ives with artist Rose Hilton, he became a prominent and internationally recognised member of the St. Ives School. It was at this time that Hilton began to look beyond abstraction, incorporating hints of landscape and figuration into his work.

‘One time I was one of the most extreme abstract painters. 1954, then I veered slightly.’

By 1973 Hilton was incapacitated - a physical and psychological debilitation brought on, in part, by alcoholism. Confined to his bed and unable to paint with oils, Hilton’s work underwent an abrupt change of style, defined by colourful figuration in gouache. It is this final body of work, born from the bed-ridden final years of the artist’s life, which will define S|2’s forthcoming show.

“You have to be pretty witty with poster paints, if they are not to become inert; the new paintings (started in December 1972) are almost pointillist in their complexity, to overcome the natural inertia of poster paints. I have reached a stage now of simplifying.”

Hilton’s late gouaches, endowed with an intoxicating sense of freedom and irresponsibility, immortalise his imperfect, intemperate response to the world. Sometimes bright and breezy, at other times dark and ominous, Hilton reserved the right to draw whatever observations he liked, whenever he wanted. An examination of this previously unknown cache of work reveals the artist’s preoccupations with mortality, as well as his attempts to re-visit his earlier abstract achievements and test them against his new simplicities of manner and technique.

Looking back on this time, Rose Hilton recalled: “It was during the last three years of his life that Roger created these strong, beautiful works, and also, I sensed, came to terms with some deeply spiritual convictions about death”. Hilton painted his last gouaches in early 1975, before passing away at home on 23 February, a month short of his 64th birthday.










Today's News

June 7, 2019

Picasso captured by the photographer's eye in new exhibition

Kunsthaus Zürich presents 'Hour Zero. Art from 1933 to 1955'

Chinese artists set new records at Paris auction

Dora Maar shakes off Picasso's shadow in new Paris show

Sotheby's Paris presents African masterpieces from the Collection of Marceau Rivière this June

Getty Museum announces online resource to mark Rembrandt anniversary year

Rubell Museum to open new home in Miami on December 4, 2019

Festival tackles role of photography in the era of fake news

Stonewall@50: A celebration of pride at Bonhams New York

Exhibition at Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein examines little researched aspects of Arte Povera

Large-scale exhibition at Postmasters Gallery marks the #stonewall50 anniversary

Ruiz-Healy Art opens a two-person exhibition featuring works by Nate Cassie and Constance Lowe

Exhibition at Skoto Gallery brings together the works of thirteen artists

Magnificent Roman coin discovered in a ploughed field sells for £552,000

Galerie Barbara Thumm presents works on paper from 1961 to 1981 by eight groundbreaking female artists

Survey on Vasco Araújo's work and a show by Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela open in Lisbon

Sotheby's S│2 gallery exhibits 100 newly unearthed works on paper by Roger Hilton

Danziger Gallery presents a mix of pictures that look forward and backwards at the gallery's history

Hirshhorn's concept for revitalized sculpture garden approved unanimously

Bobbie Moline-Kramer's debut solo exhibition opens at Lichtundfire

Works by Zhang Daqian lead Clars major Asian Art and Antiques Auction

LX opens first solo exhibition in NYC by photographer David Yarrow

The FLAG Art Foundation announces the U.S. debut of Richard Forster: Notes on Architecture

How to Choose Blinds For Your Interior

What to Do if Your Dog Ate Your Homework?

The Growing Trend of Review Generation Tools

Clever Tips and Tricks to Make Your Home Look Like the Art Gallery of Your Dreams




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful