Painter, draughtsman and sculptor, notable for figure studies and portraits, born in Calcutta, India, who studied at an English boarding school at Kalimpong, where the Himalayas “gave to me a passion for landscape”. Hutchinson later wrote that the disease and deprivation of Indian city life “became the haunting imagery of my painting. A darkness covered my pictures, a predilection for earthy colours, a sadness in every face and figure I painted, and shadow became the principal factor.” In 1959 Hutchinson moved to London, and was able to study Western masters. He was largely self-taught, although he benefited from knowing two good artists in India, and in Europe met with Pietro Annigoni and some of his disciples. In 1963 a book, Ten Drawings of Gloria, appeared, featuring his wife who, with his daughters, were important models.
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Gloria, published in 2004 and launched at the Art Workers’ Guild, celebrated Hutchinson’s depictions of Gloria Mudaliear over 50 years. Having business interests, Hutchinson did not depend on painting for a living. He carried out portrait commissions, and painted leading members of the royal family, including HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Meticulous preparation was a feature of Hutchinson’s work. Showed at RA, RP and other London mixed exhibitions. After a first solo show at Upper Grosvenor Galleries in 1964, did not exhibit one-man again until Mayfair Fine Art in 1991. In 1992 had a show with his daughter Rebecca, a pastellist, at Doncaster Museum & Gallery, in 1994 a solo exhibition, A Shift in the Concept of Beauty, at Archeus Fine Art. The book “A Hand to Obey the Demon’s Eye” The Life and Work of the Painter Norman Douglas Hutchinson, by Julian Halsby, was launched with a show at Archeus in 2000. Doncaster Museum, the Saudi Royal Family and the Wardrobe Museum Salisbury are among collections which held his work. Sometimes signed Norman or N Douglas H. Lived latterly in Saint Foy La Grande, France. His daughter Deborah Russell, born 1958, was a conceptual sculptor.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
