Tristram Hillier (1905-1983)

Tristram Hillier was 13 years Silvia’s junior. He was born in Peking but, when only six months old, sailed to England with his mother, siblings and a Japanese nurse. His childhood was not easy and his mother died when he was 12. This trauma coincided with being sent to a Roman Catholic boarding school in England. Subsequently, he studied art in London and Paris. Hillier was later elected to the Royal Academy, in 1957. He was married twice and had 2 children from each marriage.

In the manner of the Old Masters, Hillier would usually prepare ‘exquisite’ drawings prior to painting his subject on to canvas. By the Thirties, he was invited to join the (short-lived) Unit One – a modern movement in English painting, sculpture & architecture, founded by Paul Nash.

In the late Forties, shortly before Silvia went to spend the winter in Spain, she visited the Tate Gallery and was drawn ‘like a magnet’ to a still-life, entitled Harness* by Hillier. A few weeks later, whilst lodging at Santa Clara in Torremolinos, Hillier came to stay at the same hotel – it was a popular haunt for artists. Silvia introduced herself and, even though she had only come across a couple of his paintings, declared that she was ‘one of his fans’. They struck up conversation and found they had both studied under Professor Tonks at the Slade School.

In Journey to Yesterday, Silvia describes Hillier as having the cold austere air of an Englishman but then his smile ‘seems to splinter the ice that encrusts him’. He would go off to desolate villages and lodge in ‘wretched fondas’ where he painted scenes of post-atomic bomb destruction but, instinctively, did so with ‘religious feeling’.** This latter sentiment reflects the ‘quality of stillness’ prevalent in many paintings between the two world wars.