‘swinging out into the void’ at Kettle’s Yard

Roger Hilton, ‘swinging out into the void’, gathers together more than 40 paintings from the 1950s and 60s, the abstract artist’s most productive years. Amongst the works, which have been gathered from public and private collections across the UK, are a number of pieces never before exhibited.

At a time when other British painters were looking to America, Hilton, who studied and worked in Paris both before and after the Second World War, saw himself firmly as a European artist and looked to the Continent for much of his inspiration.

One of the second-generation of the St Ives school of painters, Hilton preferred to work on freeform abstract paintings. Unusually for an abstract artist, he tended to base his work on the human form, rather than landscapes.

The exhibition draws from the middle of his career, when he was at the height of his powers. Starting with oil paintings and drawings from 1953, when he came under the influence of artist Piet Mondrian, best known for his abstract, grid-based paintings, the exhibition charts his stylistic development up to 1965, when he left London for Cornwall.

Works on display range from austere, early pieces in black, red and white to the forceful, bold pieces of his later years, such as Dancing Woman, a monumental nude bounding across coloured space. The pieces reveal Hilton as a master of the use of colour and one of the most important painters of his generation.

Selections for the exhibition have been made by Michael Harrison, Director of Kettle’s Yard and Andrew Lambirth, author of a recent monograph on Roger Hilton. The catalogue includes essays by Andrew Lambirth, painter Luke Elwes, and German art historian Anett Hauswald.

The exhibition is being supported by John and Jennifer Talbot.

Roger Hilton, ‘swinging out into the void’ is open from 2 August – 21 September 2008 at Kettle’s Yard. The gallery is open from 11am-5pm from Tuesday to Sunday, entry is free.