Dimensions: support: 406 x 743 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Ivon Hitchens | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is "Interior, Boy in Bed" by Ivon Hitchens. It's hard to pin down a date for it, but the brushstrokes and color choices definitely evoke a sense of quiet unease. What symbols jump out at you? Curator: The child's posture, almost fetal, speaks to vulnerability, perhaps a loss of innocence reflected in the interior itself. Notice the red orbs - do they evoke protection, warning, or constraint? Editor: I hadn't thought of them as protective. They feel kind of ominous to me. Curator: Exactly! Symbols are rarely singular. The architectural forms, those muted blues, could represent the outside world pressing in, or perhaps a constructed reality the boy inhabits. Does the interior feel welcoming, or like a stage? Editor: It's definitely more stage than home. The way you connected the boy's posture to the architectural elements really reframed the piece for me. Curator: And for me as well - the interplay of internal emotion and external constraints.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hitchens-interior-boy-in-bed-t03126
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When they first moved to Lavington Common, Hitchens and his family lived in a caravan. His studio was built in 1941. During the day Hitchens painted in the studio while his wife Mollie and son John occupied the caravan. This picture shows the family at night in the studio where they slept. John can be seen in the cot while Mollie is at the sink with steps behind leading to an attic. 'Boy in Bed' belongs to a series of paintings of interiors which suggest the cosy intimacy of family life, although during the war-torn 1940s the family endured real physical hardship. Gallery label, September 2004
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