Ivon Hitchens

(British, 1893-1979)

Fisher's Pool 44.8 x 85.7 cm. (17 5/8 x 33 3/4 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With Waddington Galleries, London, where acquired by
Dr. R.W. Hey
Sale; Bonhams, London, 10 June 2015, lot 91, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Though painting was undoubtedly the driving passion of Hitchens' life, drawing him outdoors in all weather, he occasionally made time for other diversions. For him, fishing provided the perfect excuse to sit and observe a chosen body of water for hours on end. The pursuit of fishing was secondary; he always used an unbarbed hook to ensure any catch could be returned unharmed. This pastime aligned seamlessly with his lifelong fascination for painting the captivating play of light across water and contrasted with the colour and shadow of nearby trees and foliage; elements beautifully captured in Fisher's Pool.

The present work reflects Hitchens' steady progression toward greater abstraction, his ongoing pursuit, as Peter Khoroche so aptly put it, of a 'maximum of expression by the minimum of means' (Ivon Hitchens, Lund Humphries, 2014, p.171). In his final years, Hitchens pushed this economy of gesture and reduction of form to their furthest limits, the culmination of a lifetime of experimentation and refinement. The brushwork, paint texture, and colour all take on heightened significance, bearing an increasingly distant relationship to the original subject, yet still fundamentally rooted in the landscape.

The painting was originally acquired from Waddington Galleries by the esteemed geologist Dr Richard William Hey, whose most significant work involved tracing and reconstructing the ancient courses of British rivers, most notably the River Thames. Beyond his geological research, Dr Hey was also a dedicated educator at the University of Cambridge, where he held several roles at the newly established Churchill College, including Dean and Praelector. While at Churchill, Hey was able to indulge another of his great passions: collecting modern art, particularly abstract works. In addition to donating several pieces to the college, he also served as a longstanding member of its Picture Hanging Committee.

We are grateful to Peter Khoroche for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.