Tristram Hillier R.A.

(British, 1905-1983)

Fin de Saison 60.4 x 81.1 cm. (23 3/4 x 31 7/8 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With Arthur Tooth & Sons, London, 1940
With The Redfern Gallery, London, October 1941, where acquired by
Mrs Edgar Mocatta
Sale; Christie's, Paris, 1 December 2006, lot 97, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Literature
Tristram Hillier, Leda and the Goose, Longmans, London, 1954, p.160

Fin de Saison belongs to a concise series of ten known thirty-two-inch canvases painted by Hillier in 1938-40. These works represent the most ambitious pictures to arise from an important turning point in Hillier's oeuvre, which arguably pinpoint the moment that he arrives at his mature artistic style, and poignantly mark the waning days of peacetime life.

Hillier's best-known compositions prior to this date had been those of the early 1930s selected by Herbert Read for inclusion in his Art Now and Unit One exhibitions. Here Hillier had favoured desolate strange and decaying maritime subjects arranged in stylised dynamic compositions in which jutting forms are strewn across nonspecific beaches. Hillier then deepened his engagement with Surrealism for a series of four paintings entitled Objects on the Beach in which anchor forms are morphed into spikey biomorphic entities which dwell in desolate coastal wildernesses.

Such works had found an eager audience, selling well through London galleries, and Hillier planned to stage a large one man-show with his new dealers Arthur Tooth & Sons in the summer of 1940. For this exhibition (which was ultimately postponed) Hillier set about painting with vigour and refinement in his approach. In the resultant pictures the surrealist air and maritime focus of his early works remained present, and to these he introduced a layer of half suggested narratives, accompanied by a greater degree of realism.

Two additional themes are keenly perceptible in Hillier's work of this period; the affection for his immediate surroundings of the Seine-Maritime region of France and an allegorical vein which referenced the impending conflict in central Europe. In fact, as the artist recalls, the latter of these dictated the former:

"Few doubted, by this time, that war with Germany was sooner or later inevitable, and Normandy, it seemed to me, securely protected behind the invincible Maginot Line that was nearing completion, would be as safe a place as any in which to settle. The light, the landscape, and, above all, the harbours and beaches of the coast, offered endless material for my work" (Tristram Hillier, Leda and the Goose, Longmans, London, 1954, p.155).

In early 1939, with great assistance from his father-in-law, Hillier had purchased a grand house with a good studio space named L'Ormerie at Criquetot-l'Esneval. The nearby beach resort of Étretat with its rich artistic heritage proved a draw for Hillier, and its famous arched cliffs feature in several of his works of this period including the present composition. Writing after the war he recalled:

"Étretat has attracted many artists, for it was there that Courbet painted, among other canvases, that great picture 'La Vague'; the cliffs were made famous by Monet; Sisley also worked there, and in our own time Braque, Dufy and Henri-Matisse. Unlike the majority of places frequented by painters, however, it had never become popular in the vulgar sense, at any rate until the advent of the last war, and retained a peculiarly intimate charm. The beach with its drying nets and jet black fishing boats etched against the luminous Norman sky, and throwing deep translucent shadows upon the shingle, excited me enormously and formed the subject for what I consider some of the best paintings I have ever made" (ibid, p.156).

Consistent with all European artists of his age, WWII was to have a defining impact on Hillier both personally and professionally. In 1939 he was yet to know the full horrors that humanity would unleash upon itself, but as both his writing and paintings reflect, he was keenly attuned to the direction of travel. Of his paintings that address this matter directly, it is the present work in which his mood is most sharply projected. Hillier himself later recalled the moment of its inception:

"On a fateful Sunday morning we listened to the voice of Chamberlain telling us over the radio that we were at war, and a pall of gloom spread over the country affecting, it seemed to me, even Nature herself, for Autumn fell early that year and the dying leaves were a sad and fitting accompaniment to departing guests, the emptying beaches of the coast, and the sense of impending doom. I felt desperately forlorn and painted a picture entitled Fin de Saison" which epitomized my mood. It was indeed the end of a season of folly, indulgence and false values, but I knew it to be the end too, for better or for worse, of an epoch and, for myself and my generation, of youth" (ibid, p.160).

The Estate of Tristram Hillier is preparing a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the Artist's paintings and would like to hear from owners of the artist's works. Please write to The Estate of Tristram Hillier, c/o Modern British and Irish Art, Bonhams, 101 New Bond St, London, W1S 1SR or email [email protected]