The pictures reproduced in this book are intended as a form of retrospective exhibition. They provide a conspectus of Hitchens' work in all genres at every stage of his career, while the words serve as a background, placing the pictures in the context of his life and artistic aims.

....

Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979) is widely regarded as the outstanding English landscape painter of the twentieth century. Immediately recognisable by its daring yet subtle use of colour and brushmark to evoke the spirit of place, his work is to be found in public and private collections throughout the world.

In this, the definitive study of Hitchens' life and work now issued in a new, revised edition,Peter Khoroche draws on the painter's published writings, correspondence and conversation to create a critical reappraisal of Hitchens' theory and practice. He surveys the entire oeuvre (still-lifes, flower pieces, nudes,interiors and large-scale murals besides the landscapes), a huge legacy of work spanning sixty years, and charts the journey from conventional beginnings to 'figurative abstraction'.

A new selection of over 100 colour images provides a retrospective exhibition covering Hitchens' whole career. These illustrations,examples of his best and most characteristic painting in all genres, demonstrate the artist's outstanding talents and reinforce his standing as a key figure in the history of British art.

Preface

Note to new edition

1893-1919        Parents - Childhood - Schooldays - Travel - Royal Academy Schools

1919-1925        Hampstead studio - Church decorations - Downland- Theories of Dow and

               Bell - Seven and Five Society - Chantemesle - Ben and Winifred Nicholson

1925-1933        First one-man exhibition - Sussex and Shropshire - Moatlands -

               London Artists' Association

1933-1940       Hampstead in the 1930s - 'Objective Abstractions': the end of the 7 & 5 -

               Marriage - Suffolk

1940s          Greenleaves - Painting theory - 'Painting is painting' - First retrospective -

                Isolation in the country - Howard Bliss - The Sheffield Incident

1950s          Nudes - Large-scale works - Development in landscapes

1960-1965       Motifs - A painting day - Paint, brushes, canvas, palette - Uncertain health

                and weather - Recognition - Second retrospective

1965-1979        Seachange - Greenleaves - Music and painting- Consummation

Notes

Appendix        Some notes by IH on his mural at Cecil Sharp House

Chronology

Exhibitions

Public collections

Select bibliography

Acknowledgements

Photo credits

Index of works

Index