Ivon Hitchens

Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, where acquired by Mrs Curtis Brown in April 1935
Jean Rowntree, by whom gifted to the present owners in the early 1990s

London, Leicester Galleries, 11th Exhibition of the 7 & 5 Society, February 1932, cat. no.4;
London, Alex Reid & Lefevre, New Paintings by Ivon Hitchens, October 1933, cat. no.5.

Original canvas. There are artist's pinholes in the corners. Generally the work is in excellent original condition with areas of strong impasto. Ultraviolet light reveals no apparent signs of retouching. Held under glass in a painted plaster frame; unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
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One of the key elements in the work of Ivon Hitchens is his unerring ability to reduce his subject to its essential components, those that will immediately transfer to us, the viewer, the reality of the image he lays before us. In his landscape paintings, the sense of place, of light and shade, of even non-pictorial elements such as the smell of the earth, the rustle of a breeze or the peaceful ambience of his chosen subject, are what brings these works to life. In his still life paintings, the artist's understanding of the varied plants and flowers gives us a feeling for the weight of each flower head as it bends on its stalk, the differing textures of leaves and petals, even the materials of the pots in which he places them.

It has long been understood how much of Hitchens' ability to reduce and compose his work in this way drew upon his experience of abstraction in the 1930s, both in his own painting, and in the work of his close friends and contemporaries such as Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, John Piper and Barbara Hepworth. By bringing this understanding of the fundamental elements of his compositions together with his undoubted facility as a colourist and an instinctive ability to handle paint, Hitchen's paintings have been recognised for decades as having qualities that few other painters of his generation present so ably. However, in virtually all his paintings it is important to the success of the compositions that the stillness of the underlying building blocks of the image, the paths and vistas of the landscapes, the objects and flowers of the still life and interior paintings, act as anchors around which small elements of fleeting movement can be introduced. Thus we will sense the slow flow of a river or stream or the wave of a breath of wind through the boughs of trees. Rarely though does he introduce what might be seen as significant elements of movement, and yet it is exactly this which makes Black Dog such a successful painting.

We appear to be in a greenhouse or conservatory, the white-painted glazing bars of the structure forming an enclosed, perhaps rather claustrophobic, space. In front of us stands a bench of some sort, on which are a group of terracotta pots holding a variety of plants, some of which are bursting into gloriously coloured flower. They are not arranged, merely standing there, perhaps as shelter over the colder months, and are now waiting to be returned to the outside world now spring has arrived. The colouring and light of the painting suggests that time is now close at hand, and it is here that Hitchens uses, for him, a most unusual device to add an air of joy to the picture. Outside the windows, passing jauntily along the garden path, is the black dog of the painting's title. The tilt of his head suggests that our presence has been noted, but the unmistakeable sense of movement and the gently wagging tail introduce a refreshingly optimistic mood that every dog owner will recognise. By this simple but extremely effective expedient, Hitchens has made a painting which delights by the freshness of its colours and forms, and which uses our own knowledge and experience to lift the spirits, offering us a small piece of the hopefulness of spring regardless of the season outside.