April 30th Roger Hilton CBE (Birth)

 

 

 

 

Widely regarded as one of the most adventurous and one of the best painters of his generation, Roger Hilton (1911 – 1975) was born in Northwood on this day in 1911. 

Born Roger Hildesheim of German parents who changed their surname in 1916, Hilton studied at the Slade School of Fine Art (1929 – 1931) and then moved briefly to Paris.  In 1936, he first exhibited at the Bloomsbury Gallery.

During the Second World War, Hilton served in the army as a commando and, captured at Dieppe, spent three years as a prisoner of war.  After the war, he taught at Bryanston School (1947 – 1948), and later taught at Central School of Arts and Crafts (1954 – 56) whilst also working independently.  He held his first solo exhibition at the Gimpel Fils art gallery in Davies Street, Mayfair, in 1952.

Following study in the Netherlands, he developed a more abstract style, painting in whites, reds, and blacks using the colours as building blocks and won the John Moores Painting Prize in 1963. He moved to Botallack in 1965, became a prominent member of The St. Ives School of Painting and, following his divorce, Hilton married fellow artist Rose Phipps (August 15th).

One of his closest friends was the poet W. S. Graham (November 19th) and they inspired each other in the works despite, apparently, after an evening in the pub, Graham would end the evening shouting ‘You’re the worst painter who ever lived!’ to which Hilton would reply ‘You’re a rotten poet!

 

 

 

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