Parity Study in Blue and Red

The six connected curved lines in each group of blue and red hexagons in this print relate to a mathematical ‘tree’ with seven points and six lines, used in graph theory. Anthony Hill was fascinated by the variation that could be achieved by using mathematical devices as a starting point for his artworks. He described the process as putting abstract mathematical notions ‘to work’, by combining measured modulations with his own artistic decisions. [1]

Hill produced multiple versions of works titled Parity Study from the late 1960s onwards, using different configurations of the eight groups of mathematical trees and a range of materials. [2] As Hill noted in 1977, his decision to colour the area enclosing the trees in Parity Study in Blue and Red relates to later reliefs where white L-shaped pieces have been used instead of coloured hexagons. [3]

Lisa Newby, March 2021

[1] Anthony Hill, ‘A View of Non-Figurative Art and Mathematics and an Analysis of a Structural Relief’, Leonardo, Volume 10, No.1 (Winter, 1977), pp.7-12.

[2] For an overview of this series of works, see Alastair Grieve, ‘The development of Anthony Hill’s work from 1950 to the present’ in Anthony Hill, A Retrospective Exhibition, exh. cat. (London: Hayward Gallery, 1983), p.54. See 31578 in the Sainsbury Centre collection.

[3] Hill, 1977, p.12. See 31540 in the Sainsbury Centre Collection.