ABSTRACT
In 1949-50 H ilton h a d leap t en thusiastically in to the sw im of F rench-o rien ted p o st-w ar pain ting . By em bracing its m ed ita tive , m ore soph istica ted aspect, h e chose to reject th e v a r io u s o p tio n s of a n ti-p a in te r ly a b s tra c tio n , p rim itiv ising im agery or po litically engaged figuration . A t the sam e tim e, it w as the co n tem porary sense of cu ltu ra l d y n am ism th a t h a d en cou raged h is change of direction. H ilto n 's con tribu tion to Tachism e w as nonetheless 'b e la ted '.3 C ertain ly it w as n o t u n til he theorised ab o u t the very basis of h is a rt in its rela tion to experience th a t H ilto n 's w o rk becam e sign ifican t in an art-h isto rical sense. H ow th is w as ach ieved an d h o w H ilton subseq u en tly partic ip a ted in a d eep er cu ltu ra l sh ift is the subject of th is chapter.
