Tristram Hillier’s early life encompassed China, rural Somerset and 1920s Paris
This section features three paintings dating from the 1930s – click through the gallery below to explore
When Hillier was six months old his mother brought him back to England from Peking together with his brother and sisters. At the age of nine he became a boarder at Downside, the Roman Catholic school in Somerset, then spent two unfulfilling years at Cambridge University.
After his father died in 1924, Hillier decided to give up a conventional career. Instead he enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He became a brilliant draughtsman and in 1927 moved to Paris. There he embraced the work of Europe’s leading avant-garde artists.
In 1931 Hillier married Irene ‘Georgiana’ Hodgkins. She gave birth to their twin sons the following year in the Gascony castle that had become their home.
Winifred, Madeleine, Maurice and Tristram Hillier, c. 1910 
Tristram Hillier (centre) with school friends, c. 1922 
Downside Abbey and School, Stratton on the Fosse, Somerset, c. 1930s 
Early surrealist drawing, c. 1927
Private collection
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on canvas, 72 x 50 cm
During the late 1920s Hillier experienced a ‘tornado of conflicting influences’ including cubism and surrealism. Tower and Priest, painted in the South of France, is one of his early experiments in which empty walls feature prominently. Few paintings have survived from this period of Hillier’s career.
During the late 1920s Hillier experienced a ‘tornado of conflicting influences’ including cubism and surrealism. Tower and Priest, painted in the South of France, is one of his early experiments in which empty walls feature prominently.
The painterly brush strokes evident in this early work contrast with the distinctive immaculate surfaces of his mature work.
This painting was exhibited in Hillier’s first solo exhibition, which took place at the respected London gallery Alex Reid and Lefevre in Spring 1931. Few other paintings have survived from this period of Hillier’s career.
Reviews of Hillier’s first exhibition included one by the artist Paul Nash who wrote ‘There is something grim in his work and nothing pretty’. A critic writing in Apollo stated ‘My Tristram Hillier lives in a world in which walls and other screen-like erections play a prominent part. He has a sense of the dramatic, even occasionally, of the uncanny.’
National Galleries of Scotland, Bequeathed by Miss Elizabeth Watt, 1989
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images
Oil on plywood, 57 x 57 cm
This early painting shows the cubist influence of André Lhote, who taught Hillier in Paris during 1928–30. Still life was a favourite subject matter for the cubists, allowing them to analyse objects from multiple perspectives. Hillier was later a friend of the cubist artist Georges Braque, whom he greatly admired.
This early painting shows the cubist influence of André Lhote, who taught Hillier in Paris during 1928–30. Still life was a favourite subject matter for the cubists, allowing them to analyse objects from multiple perspectives. Hillier was later a friend of the cubist artist Georges Braque, whom he greatly admired.
Private collection
© The Estate of Tristram Hillier/Bridgeman Images Image credit Whitford & Hughes, London, UK
Oil on panel, 72 x 61 cm
The Anchor is an ambitious example of Hillier’s distinctive version of surrealism. Unlike the surrealist world of Salvador Dalí, Hillier’s landscapes, and what they contain, are never wholly improbable. Instead he makes use of what he called ‘a very natural form of symbolism’. This painting, like so many, expresses his strong affinity with the sea and uses maritime objects and draped cloth to create a perplexing and subtly disruptive atmosphere.
The Anchor is an ambitious example of Hillier’s distinctive version of surrealism. Unlike the surrealist world of Salvador Dalí, Hillier’s landscapes, and what they contain, are never wholly improbable. Instead he makes use of what he called ‘a very natural form of symbolism’.
This painting, like so many, expresses Hillier’s strong affinity with the sea. In the spring of 1932 he and Georgiana travelled to Cassis, where Hillier purchased a sailing boat, Le Czar.
The use of maritime objects and draped cloth create a perplexing and subtly disruptive atmosphere.
Gallery