Tristram Hillier 1905-1983
Portrait of a Young Lady, 1933
pencil on paper
9½ x 9 ins
signed lower left and inscribed 'To Violet Wyndham, December 1933'

Provenance
Violet Wyndham
Thence by descent



This drawing is inscribed to Violet Wyndham, the young and beautiful step-mother of Richard Wyndham, one of Edward Wadsworth's closest friends, and, hence, part of the coterie surrounding Hillier. Wyndham had been introduced to Wadsworth by Wyndham Lewis in 1922, and Hillier a few years later.

Violet was also the daughter of Ada Leverson, the writer and confidant of Oscar Wilde. Her mother was given the name 'Sphinx' by Wilde.