Roger Hilton 1911-1975
Reclining Nude, 1973
gouache on paper
14 x 21 ins
signed with initials and dated ?73 twice

Provenance
Waddington Galleries, London
Private collection, UK



Hilton's late gouaches are the final flourish of his ouevre. Through the consistency of their childlike style they express a versatile range of approaches to their subject. These approaches range from narrative arrangements, through exotic imagery to purely aesthetic compositions. The imagery also stems from a wide variety of sources: from the animals, objects and family surrounding Hilton; from things remembered - landscapes, birds and boats, from things imagined - or purely fantastic - nudes, such as this one, exotic animals and so on. The resulting range of works span the domestic the joyous, the disturbing yet humorous, and the darkly sinister.

Hilton's adoption of the childlike is not a pretence at naivety, rather it is a framework which asserts the childlike within the act of painting. Thus the late gouaches can be placed in the tradition of Dubuffet, Miro and Klee. Like the handling of earlier oils, this style asserts the primitive creative emotion through which we must view specific concerns. It provides a vision, an attitude, which precedes the imagery. The childlike style is a stage upon which the pictorial narrative action takes place.

The gouaches have been interpreted as autobiographically symbolic. Analogies have been seen for his skin condition, for his relationship with his family and his alcoholism. Because of the fantasy element it is easy to symbol hunt in their imagery. However, many are obviously autobiographical, and it seems natural to see a personal meaning in even the most bizarre of imagery. It is important however to recognise that the style and pictorial sense condition the meaning before any consideration of narrative comes into play. On first viewing the paintings are colourful exuberant and brash, and it is only after this initial response that Hilton's particular choice of imagery comes into question.

In addition to style it is important to consider the aesthetic aspect of the gouaches. Some paintings seem to have been created purely for their balance of colours and forms. They have an unassuming joy of paint, and a joie de vivre. Some of them seem to have been done simply for the pure fun of painting them.

Aside from the particular expression, joy, wit or savagery, of a particular gouache, what is special about the gouaches is how, seen in total, they accumulate into more than an addition of particular expressions. Cumulatively, their range of feelings and observations, become an expression of Hilton's thoughts, fears and fantasies - they reflect back poignantly on Hilton and his world.