Rose Hilton has been painting and exhibiting since 1988 . Her late husband, Roger Hilton, died in 1975 and it took her some 13 years to come to terms with the changes . She had a wonderful group of friends, who all helped to support her through this difficult time, such as Dudley Sutton , the actor , who in 1979 sent tickets for her and the boys to fly to the West Indies for 6 weeks while he was making a film with Michael Caine. Patrick Heron helped by providing a reference for a studio and in the early 80's she started painting with more purpose. This was coupled with her holiday to see Matisse's work in the Hermitage in 1983 and visits to see the Raoul Dufy show at the Hayward in 1984. It seems as if Rose was trying to find herself again and once she decided to keep her married name Rose Hilton, the new artist starts to emerge.
Times were still tough and she had little money, borrowing from the bank to get by, she took teaching jobs at Bristol and Falmouth. She stretched all her own canvases to save funds but then started to show at the Newlyn and Penwith annual shows. That was the very start of her journey , her personal struggle and emergence as one of the finest and well collected Artist of the late 20th centuary. In 1987 she had her first one man show at the Newlyn Gallery.
These early works were generally decorative in nature and often set in the house at Botallack. The pastel blues and dreamy textures are to be seen in one of the two works currently offered by us at Blondes Fine Art. Titled "Afternoon Dreams" this bears a Michael Parkin Gallery label verso from 1988, and was purchased by the Artist John Pawle , for his own private collection. Talking to Diana Parkin recently she recalls the sale and at that time John Pawle was represented by their gallery . Rose Hilton also had a show in Oxford that year and the following year she agreed to let Messums represent her work and has had countless successful shows there ever since, the most recent being in 2014. I can remember going to this show and seeing her large work "Red Studio" for the first time ,it was an interior design statement piece that was later exhibited at the RA and sold for £20,000. (See our previous blog dated September 18th 2015 for more details and link to the RA Summer exhibition). The show also had some paintings that had more than a nod to the work from the 1980's and one in particular took my eye as it reminded me of Afternoon Dreams it was a large canvas 120 x 190 called "Summer repast" in delicate blues , orange and white it had a calming magical feeling. Unfortunately, I could not manage the £28,500 asking price!
We are great fans of Rose Hilton's work and currently hold two works by her. They are great value , so if you are also a fan and would like to view them please contact us to arrange a viewing either by appointment in our private Hertfordshire Gallery or in your own home .