Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979)

‘Hitchens’ one-man exhibition in May 1959 was dominated by a series of thirteen variations on a single theme – the firwood ride near his home, which he had painted regularly between autumn 1957 and spring 1958. This gave the public its fullest opportunity yet to understand and appreciate his painting practise …Those who took the trouble to look more deeply into each of the variations and then compared them, one against another, must surely have been exhilarated by the artist’s orchestration of so many subtle changes of emphasis and mood in this one seemingly undramatic subject’ (P. Khoroche, Ivon Hitchens, London, 1990, p. 91).