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Tristram Hillier 1905-1983 Object on a beach no.1, 1936 Signed and dated lower right 'Hillier 36' Oil on canvas 30 x 24 3/4 in, 76.1 x 63 cm Provenance The artist Ben P. Hillier (gifted by the artist during the 1950s and thence by descent) Exhibitions Bradford, Cartwright Hall (June – July 1983); London, Royal Academy (August – September 1983); Kingston- Upon-Hull, Ferens Art Gallery (September – October 1983); Preston, Harris Museum and Art Gallery (November – December 1983), A Timeless Journey: Tristram Hillier, RA 1905-1983, no.12 London, Royal Academy, Tristram Hillier RA (1905-1983), 14 March – 25 June 2008 Moore met the young Tristram Hillier through Unit One, exhibiting together at the group's only exhibition at Mayor Gallery in 1934. It was a period which proved to be hugely influential for both artists. Hillier made several paintings of beach-scenes during the 1930s, many of them depicting anchors. In Object on a beach no.1 the inanimate anchor is heavily anthropomorphised and depicted in a state of transfiguration in a surreal parody of classical metamorphosis. During this period, and also under the influence of Surrealism, Moore also began to explore the unconscious mind. He searched for chance associations between artistic medium and the natural world, creating a mysterious fusion of the human figure, landscape and abstraction. In Object on a beach no.1 Hillier developed a similar approach, finding the enigmatic in everyday objects. Much like Moore's treatment of the body, Hillier takes his subject and transforms it. The anchor becomes a dancing 'figure' while the rope twists through the holes emphasising the interior and exterior of the body. Piercing the body with space was one of the major innovations of Moore's practice. Moore sought to break through the solidity of sculpture to create a wholly modern image centred on form and mass. Hillier's use of this imagery emphasises the magnitude of influence Moore had on his contemporaries in both sculpture and painting.

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