Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979)
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's… Read more
Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979)

Fourways

Details
Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979)
Fourways
signed 'Hitchens' (lower left)
oil on canvas
16 5/8 x 56½ in. (42.3 x 143.5 cm.)
Painted in 1955.
Provenance
with Leicester Galleries, London.
Private collection, Ireland, and by descent.
Exhibited
Venice, British Council, Exhibition of works by Ivon Hitchens and Lynn Chadwick, XXVIII Biennale, June - October 1956, no. 15.
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square not collected from Christie’s by 5.00 pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Cadogan Tate. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Cadogan Tate Ltd. All collections will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Lot Essay

Hitchens was selected to represent Britain in the 1956 Venice Biennale, where 20 of his works were exhibited including Four Ways. The Biennale was a seminal moment in the artist’s career as it was Hitchens’ first opportunity to exhibit a larger group of his works on an international platform. Consequently, his work was requested for several international exhibitions in the following months.

Peter Khoroche proposed the question ‘How far could a picture develop away from nature, so as to give aesthetic pleasure in its own right without snapping the life-giving umbilical cord that connects it with nature?' (P. Khoroche, Ivon Hitchens, Aldershot, 2007, p. 152). Painted in 1955, Four Ways is representative of Hitchens’ shift towards total abstraction beginning in the late 1940s. Panoramic in format, Hitchens has characteristically built up the picture with flat screens of colour. The curved planes of colour in contrasting bright cool blue and warm toned brown serve to draw the viewer’s gaze over the surface of the painting. The colours used only hint at the possible subject matter of trees and water, common themes in many of Hitchens’ works of this period.

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