Tristram Hillier (1905–1983) was one of the most distinctive British artists of the 20th century
He was born in Peking to a banking family and led a nomadic early life. A ‘tornado of conflicting influences’, including cubism and surrealism, shaped his art in the 1920s, and soon he was accepted as a major figure in British modernism. He developed a highly individual style in which the refined detachment of his paintings is haunted by subtler energies.
Hillier made his family home in Somerset, but longed each year for his solitary journeys through Spain, Portugal and France. Somerset’s melancholy winter skies and the sun-filled landscapes he valued so highly thus came to mark a division in both his life and his art.
This digital exhibition was created following a major retrospective at The Museum of Somerset, which brought together the largest collection of Hillier’s paintings to have been seen in more than thirty years. Together they allow us to discover once again his complex and remarkable artistic vision.
C. & J. Clark Ltd/The Alfred Gillett Trust
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on canvas, 61 x 80 cm
Hillier and his family lived in Somerset from the 1940s until his death in 1983. He spent his winters in the studio painting from sketches produced during his travels abroad or closer to home. He experienced Somerset mostly during the colder months and his paintings of the county are often characterised by bare trees and unsettling emptiness.
Hillier and his family lived in Somerset from the 1940s until his death in 1983. He spent his winters in the studio painting from sketches produced during his travels abroad or closer to home. He experienced Somerset mostly during the colder months and his paintings of the county are often characterised by bare trees and unsettling emptiness.
Contemporary nature writer Stephen Moss has described how Hillier ‘captures the stillness and melancholy of Somerset’s unique watery landscape, with its big skies and pollarded willows emerging like clenched fists from the peaty soil’
Glastonbury Tor is distantly visible on the horizon.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery , Purchased with the assistance of the Victoria & Albert Museum purchase Grant fund
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman images
Oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm
After the Second World War Hillier spent his summers in Portugal, Spain or France. He found Portugal’s parched landscapes ‘exciting beyond description’ and was equally inspired by its towns and villages. Here he depicts Viseu’s cathedral from across the cathedral square. On the left rises the Chapel of the Misericordia, subject of another painting. Haunting stillness, angular shadows and unexplained foreground objects, typical of so many of his works, establish the dream-like mood.
After the Second World War Hillier spent his summers in Portugal, Spain or France. He found Portugal’s parched landscapes ‘exciting beyond description’ and was equally inspired by its towns and villages. Haunting stillness, angular shadows and unexplained foreground objects, typical of so many of his works, establish the dream-like mood.
The Chapel of the Misericordia, subject of another painting by Hillier, rises on the left of the square.
Gallery