Dark Form on Yellow
Abstraction in which colour itself is the subject of the painting can been seen in the work of Roger Hilton, who explored the effects of paint, shape and colour across the flat surface of a canvas. Hilton's early abstracts were much more austere, using only black and white and small segments of earth colours. During the period 1954-6 he began making visits to Cornwall; like Peter Lanyon (1918-1964), he was inspired by the Cornish landscape, but the references to nature are far less obvious. Shapes like the 'Dark Form' dominate his work, suggesting natural forms in their absence of hard lines and flat colours. The picture is painterly, that is, it concentrates on the effects of the paint, rather than being draughtsmanlike and descriptive. By allowing the colours to show through one another Hilton creates a sense of light and atmosphere, like the sun through a cloud or dark objects through vapour or water.
