March 57

Hilton painted March 57 following his move to St Ives in late 1956. The painting closely relates to one in Tate, London called January 1957, in which Hilton uses the same muted and earthy palette, possibly inspired by his move to Cornwall. He retains the bold blocks of form and strong colour of the early 1950s works, but develops a more painterly approach here. The texture of paint on the surface of the present work is varied: Hilton appears to have applied the paint using a brush, palette knife and directly from the tube of paint, creating thick and wet strokes against thin and dry scrapings of colour. The spontaneous and dynamic use of black paint here contrasts with the complex and layered texture of the yellow paint.