David
Hill (1914-1977) American artist of Dutch parentage, David Hill grew up in
Cleveland, Ohio. When he was eight years old he travelled around the world with
his mother, sketching and painting tirelessly from a young age. In his artistic
career he continued to travel extensively. He worked and painted in New York
from 1942-1947,and then moved to Paris, which became his home for the rest of
his life. In 1957, with his artist friend, Joseph Plaskett, they purchased a
medieval house at 2, rue Pecquay, in one of Paris' oldest districts, the
Marais. There, they offered each other great support in their respective
artistic careers and they held legendary parties. David Hill’s career was often
that of the commercial artist, he provided illustrations for leading
publications in France and the U.S. he also worked as a muralist and painted
successfully, exhibiting extensively in the Paris galleries, he counted amongst
his patrons Cary Grant, who made a habit of purchasing David Hill’s series of
egg still lives to present to his leading ladies after each new film he made.
I
have acquired a body of work by David Hill, consisting of figurative and landscape
drawings and watercolours. A number are signed, and the majority of the landscapes
are inscribed with the place names. This listing is for a single paper, as
detailed below.
View through a park towards the Fountain Jet d'Eau. Pastel/graphite drawing on dark blue/grey wove paper. Unsigned, though titled and dated lower right.
Reasonable condition, with light handling, age toning around the margin, from where the paper was previously mounted (around 1cm in from sides and top margin and 3cm from bottom, as cropped in last image). Gum tape to the back edge and minor tears/paper loss to paper edges.
Paper measures 33.5cm x 26cm