Derek Hill

Lancashire Slate Quarry

1961

© The estate of Derek Hill

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Not on display

Artist: Derek Hill 1916–2000
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 635 × 743 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Purchased 1962
Reference: T00499

Display caption

This painting is displayed to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Derek Hill, British portrait and landscape painter, stage designer and writer. Since the 1930s he has travelled widely, acquiring detailed knowledge of many cultures and traditions. He has had a home in Donegal since 1954 but has continued to live and paint in other regions. In 'Lancashire Slate Quarry' Hill attempts to represent nature truthfully, while at the same time obeying the formal principles of picture-making. Here he places the viewer in a precipitious yet privileged position before this man-made monument, its depth and height suggested by receding planes of tone.

Gallery label, August 2004

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Catalogue entry

T00499 LANCASHIRE SLATE QUARRY 1961

Inscr. ‘DH’ (in circle) b.r. and on the back ‘Lancashire Slate Quarry 61’.
Canvas, 25×29 1/4 (63·5×74).
Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1962.
Exh: Whitechapel Art Gallery, November–December 1961 (243).

The quarry is called the Burlington Slate Quarry; it is owned by Richard Cavendish and the picture was painted in April 1961.

Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, I