For forty years Somerset was Tristram Hillier’s home and an inspiration for his painting

This section features six paintings produced in Somerset between 1943-62 – click through the gallery below to explore

When Hillier returned to England in 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. But he found military service lonely and claustrophobic. After suffering a breakdown he was finally discharged in 1944.

The Hilliers moved to Somerset, later settling at Yew Tree House in East Pennard. It was there in 1950 that Leda gave birth to a second daughter, Anna-Clare.

Hillier did not fully embrace English country life and continued to suffer periods of deep depression. As he grew older his Catholic faith became increasingly important to him.

  • Portrait of Tristram Hillier, c. 1970s
  • Hillier’s studio at Yew Tree House, c. 1980s
Three milk churns stand on the left of a road which leads to two men quarreling. One holds what could be a stick or a gun, the other leans on a pitch fork. Behind the churns is part of a roughly made fence with peeling posters, and a pile of loose stones. Agricultural buildings in the background, including a red brick farmhouse and grey stoned barns, indicate we are on farming land.
The Argument, 1943
Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library, Preston
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on panel, 27 x 41 cm
The Argument depicts two men in a Somerset landscape. They are quarrelling in the road for an unknown reason while a female figure looks on. The rural setting is evoked by milk churns, a barn made of local lias stone and an open farm gate.
  Hotspots

  Zoom

  Show info

The Argument was created during a period of intense artistic activity following Hillier’s wartime service. The Somerset landscape provided a source of new and unfamiliar inspiration.

The painting depicts two men in a Somerset landscape. They are quarrelling in the road for an unknown reason while a female figure looks on.

The rural setting is evoked by milk churns, a barn made of local lias stone and an open farm gate.

A bumpy sand-coloured track with broken branches and an abandoned milk pail leads to a church, beyond which lies the green flat fields of the Somerset Levels. Dark green leafy trees frame the church.
The Vale from Cucklington, 1944
Somerset County Council/South West Heritage Trust
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Tempera on canvas, 41 x 51 cm
The Vale from Cucklington shows the medieval church of St Lawrence presiding from its hillside site over a distant view of fields. Fallen branches, a broken gate and an inert church bell set the tone for this unsettling and ambiguous picture of Somerset in wartime.
  Hotspots

  Zoom

  Show info

The village of Cucklington was located close to Hillier’s first Somerset home at Bayford.

The medieval church of St Lawrence is depicted presiding from its hillside site over a distant view of fields.

Fallen branches, a broken gate and an inert church bell set the tone for this unsettling and ambiguous picture of Somerset in wartime.

A muddy track lined with a stone wall and abandoned bike on one side, and traditional milk churns on the other, leads through an open gate to a series of farm buildings. A blue cart with red wheels leans out of one of the barn doors. On the right a female figure carrying two milk pails stands with a child in front of the pile of hay that sits in front of the barn.
Barns in Winter, 1943
Private collection
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images (Image credit Bonhams, London, UK)
Oil on panel, 26 x 41 cm
Agricultural buildings form the backdrop of this wintery scene. A female figure and a child walk toward a row of milk churns, the child’s red coat and toy horse providing vivid accents. The rutted farm track has acquired a strange and almost organic texture.
  Hotspots

  Zoom

  Show info

Agricultural buildings form the backdrop of this wintery scene.

A painting on the side of one of the farm buildings echoes the composition of Barns in Winter, adding to the surreal feel of the painting.

A female figure and a child walk toward a row of milk churns, the child’s red coat and toy horse providing vivid accents.

The rutted farm track has acquired a strange and almost organic texture.

A hilly landscape of vivid green is shown with simple white fencing lining the edges. In the foreground is a military encampment and a road where a soldier on a motorcycle has come to a standstill.
The War in Somerset, 1943
Manchester Art Gallery
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on panel, 26 x 41 cm
This painting was completed soon after Hillier arrived in Somerset. A soldier on a motor bike has stopped near a railway bridge. A road stretches away behind the railway embankment and in the far distance six barrage balloons float in the sky. A military encampment is shown in the foreground. The landscape is evidently an imagined one in which unexpected juxtapositions add to the unsettling atmosphere.
  Hotspots

  Zoom

  Show info

This painting was completed soon after Hillier arrived in Somerset and the family were living in Bayford, near Wincanton, close to Leda’s father.

A military encampment is shown in the foreground and in the far distance six barrage balloons float in the sky.

A soldier on a motor bike has stopped near a railway bridge. Behind him a road stretches away from the railway embankment.

The landscape Hillier creates is evidently an imagined one in which unexpected juxtapositions add to the unsettling atmosphere.

An uneven lane leads to agricultural buildings and open countryside beyond. The scene is framed by tall and thin bare-branched trees. The grey blue sky indicates a cold winter's day. Milk churns and abandoned farming tools are shown in the foreground, to the right of the road.
Somerset Lane, 1954
Private collection
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on canvas, 70 x 63 cm
Hillier’s paintings of the Somerset landscape became bleaker with the years. In this earlier painting from 1954 the colours are marginally warmer, and though, as was increasingly the case, humans have departed, the marks of their activity are still evident. Milk churns wait expectantly in the foreground, and a worker has left tools leaning against the wooden structure on which the churns are standing.
  Hotspots

  Zoom

  Show info

Hillier’s paintings of the Somerset landscape became bleaker with the years. In this earlier painting from 1954 the colours are marginally warmer, and though, as was increasingly the case, humans have departed, the marks of their activity are still evident. Milk churns wait expectantly in the foreground, and a worker has left tools leaning against the wooden structure on which the churns are standing.

An irregular open road stretches into the distance. It is lined by bare trees on either side. The two larger trees stand tall to the right, dominating the composition. The sky is a cold cloudy-blue. A small portion of crumbling stone wall stands to the left of the road in the image foreground.
January Landscape, 1962
Harris Museum, Art Gallery & Library, Preston
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on canvas, 51 x 61 cm
Many of Hillier’s Somerset paintings, including January Landscape, show the countryside empty in the depths of winter. This painting is also typical in depicting bare trees starkly silhouetted against the sky and a road that stretches out to the horizon.
  Hotspots

  Zoom

  Show info

Many of Hillier’s Somerset paintings, such as January Landscape, show the countryside empty in the depths of winter. This painting is also typical in depicting bare trees starkly silhouetted against the sky and a road that stretches out to the horizon.

Gallery





    This exhibition was supported by