Artwork
Underhill Farm
Underhill Farm is a watercolor work on paper by the Aestheticist artist Ivon Hitchens. It dates from 1923 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
Ivon Hitchens’ 1923 watercolour, Underhill Farm, presents an abstracted rural scene rendered in layered blues and greens. Two of the artist’s signatures appear on the surface, confirming its authorship. The composition balances overlapping geometric forms with solitary blocks, set against a pale blue field that suggests sky or distant terrain.
Subject & Meaning
The work abstracts the landscape of a farm, reducing fields, foliage and sky to simplified planes of colour. By stripping recognizable detail, Hitchens emphasizes the rhythmic interplay of shape and hue, inviting viewers to sense the essence of a countryside vista rather than its literal features.
Technique & Style
Executed in transparent watercolour, the painting employs bold, gestural brushstrokes that create a sense of movement across the canvas. Hitchens juxtaposes saturated blues and greens with lighter tones, allowing layers to overlap and generate depth while maintaining a flat, abstracted visual language characteristic of his early modernist approach.
History & Provenance
Created in 1923, Underhill Farm bears two distinct signatures, confirming its authenticity. The piece belongs to the early period of Hitchens’ career, when he was developing a personal abstraction of the English countryside, a theme he would continue to explore throughout his oeuvre.
Artist & collection
Artist
Ivon Hitchens was an English painter who started exhibiting during the 1920s. He became part of the 'London Group' of artists and exhibited with them during the 1930s. His house was bombed in 1940 during World War…
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