Ivon Hitchens

Ivon Hitchens (1893–1979) was a major British modernist painter celebrated for his expansive, horizontal compositions that merge abstraction and landscape painting. Initially associated with the London Group and influenced by Cézanne, Matisse, and early British modernism, Hitchens developed a distinctive visual language that balanced structure and improvisation. After his London studio was bombed in 1940, he moved permanently to West Sussex, where the surrounding woodland, ponds, and shifting atmospheres became the foundation of his mature work.

Hitchens’ technique involved laying down broad sweeps of thinned oil paint in earthy greens, blacks, ochres, and luminous blues, allowing underlayers to remain visible. This loose, fluid handling created a sense of spatial ambiguity—landscape not as a literal view but as a rhythmic arrangement of form, color, and sensation. His panoramic canvases suggest both the experience of moving through nature and the psychological tone of the places he painted.

Exhibited widely at the Tate, the Royal Academy, and internationally, Hitchens is represented in major collections including Tate, the Hirshhorn Museum, and the National Gallery of Canada. His work continues to shape conversations about abstraction rooted in lived environment, offering meditative, atmospheric images that bridge observation and intuition.