Roger Hilton

Roger Hilton CBE (1911–1975) was a pioneer of abstract art in post-Second World War Britain.

Often associated with the 'middle generation' of St Ives painters – Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon & Bryan Wynter – he spent much of his career in London, where his work was deeply influenced by European avant-garde movements such as tachisme and CoBrA.

He was born on 23 March 1911 in Northwood, Middlesex, and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art under Henry Tonks and also in Paris, where he developed links with painters on the Continent.

He was born Roger Hildesheim and his parents changed the name to Hilton in 1916, when anti-German feeling was prevalent.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Hilton's career began to take off and he started to spend more time in west Cornwall, moving there permanently in 1965.