Tristram Hillier worked on commissions throughout his career
In the 1930s Hillier created several paintings for Shell as designs for advertising posters. After the Second World War he also undertook commissions for private individuals and companies including the Central Electricity Generating Board and the Coventry Evening Telegraph.
This section features three commissions produced between 1950-58 – click through the gallery below to explore
Ship Propulsion Preparatory Drawing, c. 1950 
First class café on the Orient liner S.S. Orion with mural by Hllier c. 1930s
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester On loan from a private collection, 2013
© The estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman images
Oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm
Ship Propulsion was commissioned as the design for a large mural in the ‘Sea and Ships’ pavilion at the Festival of Britain. After long years of war the festival, held in the summer of 1951, celebrated national renewal. Hillier’s painting is splendidly colourful. He uses a low viewpoint and distortions of scale to create a dream-like vision in which mechanical forms inhabit a sunlit beach.
Ship Propulsion was commissioned as the design for a large mural in the ‘Sea and Ships’ pavilion at the Festival of Britain. After long years of war the festival, held in the summer of 1951, celebrated national renewal.
Hillier’s painting is splendidly colourful. He uses a low viewpoint and distortions of scale to create a dream-like vision in which mechanical forms inhabit a sunlit beach.
This preparatory drawing demonstrations the level of consideration that is given to a painting’s composition before any paint is applied to the canvas.
North Somerset Council/South West Heritage Trust
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on canvas, 75 x 106 cm
Construction of Portishead ‘B’ Power Station began in 1949 and was well advanced when Hillier’s painting was commissioned by the Central Electricity Authority. He renders meticulously the complex pattern of structural steel. It towers over the low-built workshops and the tiny human forms. A preparatory sketch for the painting is dated 1954. The power station closed in 1982.
Construction of Portishead ‘B’ Power Station began in 1949 and was well advanced when Hillier’s painting was commissioned by the Central Electricity Authority.
Hillier renders meticulously the complex pattern of structural steel. It towers over the low-built workshops and the tiny human forms.
A preparatory sketch for the painting is dated 1954. The power station closed in 1982.
Reach Plc
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman images
Oil on canvas, 76 x 97 cm
The destruction of Coventry Cathedral in a German air raid reverberated long after the war. Basil Spence’s modernist replacement, to which artists and craftsmen including Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens contributed, became a symbol of hope and reconciliation. Hillier’s commissioned picture shows building work at an early stage. In the background the old cathedral’s medieval spire, seen through a lattice-work of scaffolding, stands triumphant and enduring.
The destruction of Coventry Cathedral in a German air raid reverberated long after the war. Basil Spence’s modernist replacement, to which artists and craftsmen including Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens contributed, became a symbol of hope and reconciliation.
Hillier’s commissioned picture shows building work at an early stage. In the background the old cathedral’s medieval spire, seen through a lattice-work of scaffolding, stands triumphant and enduring.
Gallery