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Lot Essay
Living in the midst of a large thicket of rhododendrons several miles from the nearest railway station, and inured to a somewhat makeshift lifestyle largely lacking in creature comforts, Hitchens found it difficult to find a female model, who might be willing to rough it for the sake of art.
This problem was to some extent resolved in 1965 when, on impulse, he bought a seaside bungalow at Selsey, where, aided on occasion by powerful binoculars, he was able to study at leisure the unsuspecting sunbathers on the seashore. But the whole business of painting the nude was for Hitchens problematic. How was he to adapt the progressively more abstract language of his landscapes to depicting the living, breathing and, above all, alluring female form? His widely differing approaches to painting the nude make it perhaps the most experimental part of his oeuvre, including, as he would himself have admitted, some wrong turnings, as well as some breathtaking successes.
Shore Figure is as experimental as any, with (for Hitchens) an unusual format and an unusual pose - arms upraised and interlaced, encircling the half-averted head. It could best be described as a drawing in paint with dramatic highlights, the bold splash of crimson/orange especially effective in contrast to the powerful outlines of the rest of the figure.
We are very grateful to Peter Khoroche for preparing the catalogue note for the present lot.
This problem was to some extent resolved in 1965 when, on impulse, he bought a seaside bungalow at Selsey, where, aided on occasion by powerful binoculars, he was able to study at leisure the unsuspecting sunbathers on the seashore. But the whole business of painting the nude was for Hitchens problematic. How was he to adapt the progressively more abstract language of his landscapes to depicting the living, breathing and, above all, alluring female form? His widely differing approaches to painting the nude make it perhaps the most experimental part of his oeuvre, including, as he would himself have admitted, some wrong turnings, as well as some breathtaking successes.
Shore Figure is as experimental as any, with (for Hitchens) an unusual format and an unusual pose - arms upraised and interlaced, encircling the half-averted head. It could best be described as a drawing in paint with dramatic highlights, the bold splash of crimson/orange especially effective in contrast to the powerful outlines of the rest of the figure.
We are very grateful to Peter Khoroche for preparing the catalogue note for the present lot.