Born in London in 1926, Ron Hitchins moved to Hackney aged 13 and started a market stall selling very brightly coloured shirts that he designed himself. Known as ‘The Flash’ he was a colourful character in London’s East end. Eventually he started to design small terracotta necklaces with interesting abstract designs that he sold on his stall. From this a developed a career as an artist. He primarily designed wall hangings that were composed of a selection of individually designed terracotta tiles. Apart from terracotta he also worked with fibreglass. His designs were often inspired by foreign design influences, notably Aztec. He had a huge selection of tools and implements he used to create the small tile designs.
Although much loved as an artist, Hitchins was first and foremost known as an avid Flamenco dancer. He almost single-handedly introduced London to this form of dancing and until his death in 2019 he remained an active member of the Flamenco Dance scene.
This particular work of art gives a good idea of the work Hitchins produced. It consists of 24 ceramic tiles on a painted hessian board. It is titled ‘Aztec64’ and probably dates from 1964. He usually created works in a natural terracotta colour and although he sometimes glazed the tiles in other colours I have not before seen a work in this delicate green glaze. Hitchins clearly enjoyed creating these lovely little tiles. The way he experiments with the materials is quite delightful. In this example in especially he has been very loose with the design of the tiles. The tiles are slightly rectangle rather than square and it is tempting to imagine his dancing has somehow influenced this playful work of art. Hitchins’ work fits in very well with the brutalist tradition; it uses cheap, simple materials; it is experimental in its use of materials; it was not traditionally regarded as ‘fine art’; and even the use of ethnic motifs is something we encounter with a lot of other brutalist artists.
(Another example of his work called Antique Frise, about 1965)
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