Introduction

It is tw en ty -five years n o w since R oger H ilto n d ied . O ne justifica tion for p ro d u c in g a s tu d y of h is w o rk a t th is p o in t in tim e is th a t such a p e rio d after an a r tis t 's d ea th is often m ark ed by loss of availab le arch ive m ateria l in the w id es t sense of the w ord . The d ea th s of H ilto n 's first w ife, e ld est bro ther, sister-in -law an d first love, G u ilhen Perrier, d u rin g the final stages of research u n d erlin es th is p o in t w ith sad poignancy. A re w e h o w ev er still too n ea r the p e rio d of H ilto n 's lifetim e for real a r t h isto ry? M y v iew is th a t it is in d e ed possib le to d a y to v iew the 1 9 5 0 -1 9 6 0 S p erio d w ith critical h isto rical d istance, to be aw are of its cu ltu ra l d iscourses, its ideological an d h isto rical context. We no lo nger live in a w o rld w h ich assu m es p ro g ress a n d g ro w in g prosperity . We h av e lost th a t p e r io d 's u n p rob lem atic sense of the v a lu e of 'a rtis tic in d e p en d e n ce ' an d cu ltu ra l advance. We are far from assu m in g th a t the benefits of abstraction are se lf-ev ident o r the n o tio n of se lf-expression un im peachab le , an d th a t therefore abstract expression m akes art-theore tical sense an d p ro v id es a conven ien t telos for the construc tion of recen t a rt history. Today w e m ay ra th e r feel th a t w e n eed to enqu ire in to w h a t m o tivations h av e b een ex p u n g ed in the celebra tion of the ach ievem ent of 'in d e p e n d e n t' p a in tin g , w h a t resistances h av e b een igno red , w h a t pa in fu lly liv e d -th ro u g h con trad ic tions an d w ith d raw a ls hav e b een tu rn e d in side o u t in such ex u ltan t accounts.