Page 31 - Studio International - March 1974
P. 31

it was all France. Suddenly we had this great   seeing his paintings and also one or two straws
        EVERY                                    American invasion and then they all sort of   in the wind. There was this collector, the
                                                                                            brother of the man who conducts, or used to
                                                 slid over to Americans.
       ARTIST IS A                               Alan Green:  Did you feel you slid over as well ?   conduct, Howard Bliss. He used to collect a lot
                                                                                            of stuff and he bought a lot of my paintings
                                                 RH: Oh yes.
                                                                                            from Gimpel. I had one quite good one, actually.
                                                  AG: Is that more or less the time when you
                                                                                            It was an early abstract and very complex, which
       CON-MAN                                    were doing those really abstract paintings ?   my first wife has got now. I didn't mind that
                                                  RH:  They weren't influenced by America at all.
                                                  They were influenced by this chap Constant,   being put in the sale. And he said. 'Look. Why
        Roger Hilton: retrospective exhibition, Serpentine   the Dutchman; who, in turn, was influenced by   don't you take that picture and enlarge it ?',
        Gallery, London, March 1-31; recent drawings   Mondrian. He came to stay in London. I went   and this was an idea. It gave me a kind of clue.
        and gouaches, Hester van Royen Gallery, London,   to see his things up at Notting Hill which rather   I thought, 'Why do you have to make this very
                                                                                            complex affair when you could do it with just
        till March 23. Following is a transcript of   impressed me, I must say. A new sort of   a simple figure ?'. Well, with one thing and
        discussions recently held with Roger Hilton by Alan   painting and it did give me a sort of shift,   another I started to do very abstract abstracts.
        Green, also the facsimile of a letter written for this   and then he came to stay in our house, in the
                                                  basement. Afterwards he went back to      It wasn't a Mondrian type, it was more rugged.
        issue by Roger Hilton.                                                              That was about fifty-four, I think, mid-fifties.
        Roger Hilton:  Things are balanced up now   Amsterdam and I went with him, and then   But I haven't got many to show. The Tate
        between France and America. At one time   we went to Paris and so on. Anyhow, it was just









































































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