IVON HITCHENS: POETRY IN PAINT

As Wyndham Lewis remarked over seventy years ago, one can spot a Hitchens half a mile away. But what is it that makes almost any of his paintings stand out from those surrounding it in a mixed exhibition or a public gallery? First, surely, the impact of his colour - its freshness and luminosity, second his unique pictorial language - bold brush marks on a background of brilliant white priming; and third the wide format which he adopted initially for his landscapes but then extended to other genres too. Hitchens' unique form of expression was something that continued to develop throughout his sixty-year painting career, tending towards a self-sufficient arrangement of colour masses and directional brushstrokes and an ever more economical notation of the thing seen. Like the wide format, it originated in his response to landscape and was then adapted to his painting of flowers, nudes and interiors until, in his full maturity, one language could serve all genres.

Peter Khoroche

Caves of Green, no.4
Signed lower right: Hitchens. Signed, dated and inscribed on the artist's label attached to the stretcher: "Caves of green, No.4 1961" / by IVON HITCHENS / Greenleaves, Petworth, Sussex
Oil on canvas
17 x 56 in / 43.2 x 142.2 cm
Framed Size 25 x 65 x 3 in / 63.5 x 165.1 x 7.6 cm
Asking price: £250,000.00

Yellow and orange lilies
Signed lower right: Ivon Hitchens; signed and inscribed on the artist’s label attached to the stretcher: IVON HITCHENS / Greenleaves . Lavington Common / Petworth . Sussex / "Yellow and orange Lilies"
Oil on canvas
22 x 26 1/4 in / 55.9 x 66.7 cm
Framed Size 33 x 29 x 3 in / 83.8 x 73.7 x 7.6 cm
Asking price: £150,000.00

The blue jug poppy
Signed lower right: Hitchens; signed, dated and inscribed on a label attached to the stretcher: "The Blue Jug Poppy" / 1960 / by Ivon Hitchens / Greenleaves . Petworth . Sussex
Oil on canvas
20 1/4 x 41 1/2 in / 51.4 x 105.4 cm
Framed Size 27 3/4 x 49 x 3 in / 70.5 x 124.5 x 7.6 cm
Asking price: £180,000.00

February landscape
Signed lower right: Hitchens; signed, dated and inscribed on the artist’s label attached to the reverse: February Landscape 1973 / by Ivon Hitchens Greenleaves Petworth Sussex
Oil on canvas
17 x 43 in / 43.2 x 109.2 cm
Framed Size 24 x 50 x 3 in / 61 x 127 x 7.6 cm
Asking price: £140,000.00

Forest, 'O hurry to the ragged wood'
Signed lower right: Hitchens; signed, dated and inscribed on the artist's label attached to the stretcher: Forest. "O hurry to the ragged wood" / 1971 / by Ivon Hitchens / Petworth / Sussex
Oil on canvas
20 1/4 x 41 1/2 in / 51.4 x 105.4 cm
Framed Size 28 5/8 x 50 in / 72.7 x 127 cm
Asking price: £170,000.00

Flowers red & gold
Signed lower left: Ivon Hitchens; signed and inscribed on the artist’s label attached to the stretcher: IVON HITCHENS / Greenleaves / Lavington Common / Petworth / Sussex / "Flowers Red+Gold"
Oil on canvas
24 x 16 3/4 in / 61 x 42.5 cm
Framed Size 29 x 21 1/2 x 2 1/2 in / 73.7 x 54.6 x 6.4 cm
Asking price: £225,000.00

Landscape, spaces of woods and hills
Signed lower left: Hitchens; signed, dated and inscribed on the artist's label attached to the stretcher: Landscape. Spaces of Woods and Hills / 1963 / by Ivon Hitchens / Greenleaves . Petworth . Sussex
Oil on canvas
18 x 46 in / 45.7 x 116.8 cm
Framed Size 26 x 54 x 3 in / 66 x 137.2 x 7.6 cm
Asking price: £165,000.00

Red splash
Dated on the overlap: 16-6-70. Stamped by the Hitchens Estate on the reverse and inscribed: C.90 Red Splash, 1970
Oil on canvas
16 1/4 x 39 in / 41.3 x 99.1 cm
Framed Size 24 x 46 1/2 x 3 in / 61 x 118.1 x 7.6 cm
Asking price: £150,000.00

Arched trees - upward and inward movement
Signed lower left: Hitchens; signed and inscribed on the artist’s label attached to the stretcher: "Arched Trees"/"upward and inward movement"/ by Ivon Hitchens / Greenleaves . Petworth . Sussex
Oil on canvas
16 1/2 x 43 1/4 in / 41.9 x 109.9 cm
Framed Size 24 1/2 x 51 x 3 1/2 in / 62.2 x 129.5 x 8.9 cm
Asking price: £165,000.00