Ivon Hitchens (born London, 3 March 1893 – 29 August 1979) was an English

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

who started exhibiting during the 1920s. He became part of the ' London Group' of artists and exhibited with them during the 1930s. His house was bombed in 1940 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Hitchens and his family abandoned London for the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

countryside, where he acquired a small area of woodland on Lavington Common (near Petworth), and lived there in a caravan, which he gradually augmented with a series of buildings. It was here that the artist further developed his fascination with the woodland subject matter, and this pre-occupation continued until the artist’s death in 1979. Hitchens is particularly well-known for panoramic landscape paintings created from blocks of colour. There is a huge mural by him in the main hall of

Cecil Sharp House Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada *Cecil, Alberta, ...

. His work was exhibited in the British Pavilion at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1956. Hitchens was the son of the artist

Alfred Hitchens Alfred Hitchens (27 November 1861 – 5 October 1942) was an English painter, father, grandfather and great grandfather of artists Ivon Hitchens, John Hitchens and Simon Hitchens respectively. His work was regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy ...

. His son

John Hitchens John Hitchens (born 1940) is an English painter. His work is influenced by the landscape of the South Downs and his main subject area is the countryside of West Sussex, England. He also spent extended periods working in North Wales and North West ...

and grandson Simon Hitchens are both artists.

Exhibitions

* 1925 One-man exhibition, Mayor Gallery, London * 1928 Arthur Tooth & Sons, London * 1929 London Artists' Association, Cooling Galleries, London * 1930

Heal's Mansard Gallery Heal's ("Heal and Son Ltd") is a British furniture retail company comprising seven stores, selling a range of furniture, lighting and home accessories. For over two centuries, it has been known for promoting modern design and employing ta ...

, London * 1933 Alex Reid & Lefevre, London (also 1935 and 1937) * 1934 Participated in Objective Abstractions, Zwemmer Gallery * 1937

Storran Gallery The Storran Gallery was a fashionable ''avant-garde'' art gallery in London in the 1930s. In 1937 it was run by the prominent art critic Eardley Knollys (a friend of Picasso) with Ala Story and the artist Frank Coombs (1906-1941). The gallery w ...

exhibition * 1940 First of ten one-man exhibitions, Leicester Galleries (also in 1942, 1944, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1957 and 1959) * 1945 Retrospective exhibition, Temple Newsam House, Leeds * 1947 Friends of

Bristol Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...

* 1947 Arts Council exhibition

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

and Cirencester * 1948 Retrospective exhibition, Graves Art Gallery,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

* 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

exhibition Bristol Art Gallery * 1953 Metropolitan Art Gallery, Tokyo * 1956 Gimpel Fils, London * 1956 Represented Britain at the XXVIII Venice Biennale * 1958 Laing Art Galleries, Toronto * 1960 One man exhibition, Waddington Galleries, London (also in 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1990, 1993 and 1996) * 1963 Major retrospective exhibition arranged by the Arts Council, Tate Gallery, London * 1964 Civic Art Gallery, Southampton, University of Southampton Arts Festival * 1966 Tib Lane Gallery, Manchester, Poindexter Gallery, New York; Worthing Art Gallery * 1967 ''Treasures from West Country'' exhibition, Bristol City Art Gallery * 1967 Stone Gallery, Newcastle * 1971 Basil Jacobs Fine Art, London * 1972 Rutland Gallery, London, Landscape into Abstract * 1978 Burstow Gallery, Brighton College * 1978 Retrospective exhibition, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne * 1979 Retrospective exhibition, Royal Academy * 1980 Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames * 1982 New Art Centre, London * 1987 Oriel 31, Welshpool and Newtown, Powys * 1989 Retrospective exhibition, Serpentine Gallery, London * 1991 Cleveland Bridge Gallery, Bath * 1993 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London * 1993 Pallant House Gallery, Chichester * 1993 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal * 2000 Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, A Visual Sound * 2003 Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, Landscapes * 2005 Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne * 2005 Jonathan Clark Fine Art, Nudes * 2007 Pallant House Gallery, Chichester * 2007 Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, The Flower Paintings * 2009 Jonathan Clark Fine Art, London, Unseen Paintings from the 1930s * 2019 Garden Museum, London * 2019 'Space Through Colour': Pallant House Gallery, Chichester; then Djanogly Gallery, Lakeside Arts, University of Nottingham Ivon Hitchens Estate - Jonathan Clark Fine Art
/ref>

Sources

Art Fact

External links

*
Tate Britain, London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchens, Ivon 1893 births 1979 deaths English artists People educated at Bedales School Rother Valley artists