Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  With The Leicester Galleries, London, 15 February 1940, where purchased by the father of the present owner
  Private Collection, U.K.
  
  Whilst Ivon Hitchens is primarily recognised for the abundance of landscape work he executed from his home in the Sussex countryside, still life painting formed an important part of his artistic output. The studio still life work from the 1930s, of which examples rarely appear at auction and the present work forms part of, differs to what would become a more charged and abstract style in later years.
  
  Hitchens' flower pieces and still lifes owe much to the influence of Georges Braque who, along with Cézanne, played a major role in his development. The present work is a striking example and incorporates a carefully selected floral bouquet with expressive palette. Hitchens' ability to successfully transcribe what we may consider a traditionalist subject within a modernist and clearly defined pictorial space make this work highly appealing.