Roger Hilton CBE (1911 - 1975) was a pioneer of abstract* art in post-war Britain. He was born in 1911 in the Middlesex section of London with the name Roger Hildesheim, but the family surname was changed in 1916 because of anti-German sentiment from the War. He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art*, London under Henry Tonks from 1929 to 1931, and then went to Paris, where he developed links with painters on the Continent and studied at the Academie Ransom with painter Roger Bassiere.

In World War II he served in the Army, part of the time as a Commando, and was a prisoner until the end of the war after the Dieppe raid of 1942. It was an experience that attuned him to the dark side of human nature. He worke...