South Downs (The Plough on the Downs)

This glowing tempera landscape relates closely to the gouache South Downs, Near Cocking (1922) which has a similar compositional arrangement, as well as a charming spontaneity and directness. The format foreshadows the horizontality that Hitchens became famous for later, and the painting was clearly observed in front of the subject. Hitchens’ biographer, Peter Khoroche, points out that such informal studies were probably an antidote to the very much more formal commissions, mostly for churches, by which he tried to make a living in early years. ‘One can see in the modest watercolours, gouaches and tempera sketches painted between 1918 and 1922 an escape from the large, conscientious but ultimately lifeless murals painted in the same years’ (Khoroche, Ivon Hitchens, Farnham, 2014, p. 20). Hitchens was already exploring the downland scenery which was to become his favourite subject matter in years to come.

A.L.