Resumen de Autobiographical notes by Roger Hilton
The writer comments on an autobiographical text by the artist Roger Hilton, published here for the first time. The text is written in the artist's hand on one sheet of letter paper, and can be dated to after 1959–60. The fact that the text is in French suggests that it was written in relation to his exhibition at the Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, Switzerland, in June 1961. Structured into four parts, covering chronologically the periods 1911–39, 1940–49, 1950–59 and 1960–61, the text refers to many of the significant moments or passages in Hilton's life and career, at least as he remembered them at around the age of 50, and can be amplified from what is known of his life. Changing focus from his personal life to his painting and, finally, to comments on art-world politics, and self-consciously using a written form associated with literary projects, Hilton has constructed his own narrative of his emergence as an artist.
