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PRESS RELEASE Paul Hill White Peak, Dark Peak 8th July – 20th August 2011 Private view Thursday, 7th July 2011, 6:30 – 9:00pm “Hill’s photographs position him among those land artists, from Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton to Richard Long, whose special relationship with the land lie at the heart of their aesthetic.”

Lewis Baltz Eleven is very pleased to present White Peak, Dark Peak, an exhibition of photographs by Paul Hill, curated by John Ferreira. The exhibition provides an opportunity to view an important body of work that has not been exhibited in London for close to 20 years.

Between 1978 and 1990, Hill embarked upon a visual odyssey across the Peak District that culminated in the publication of a monologue entitled White Peak, Dark Peak. Long out of print, this book is today viewed as a landmark in the history of British photography.

Much of the photography found in today’s worlds of advertising, fashion, photojournalism and contemporary art is designed to stimulate an immediate emotional response from the viewer. This is not the case with Hill’s White Peak, Dark Peak images. In part inspired by Minor White, Hill’s landscapes are produced within a tight tonal range of grays, whilst the skyline, invariably, has been removed from the image. The latter technique draws the viewer into a two-dimensional plane and as a consequence creates an invitation for contemplation of the very nature of the terrain itself.

Hill has lived in the Peak District for half of his life. The resultant intimacy or special relationship with this environment has allowed him to capture what would often escape the casual passer-by or indeed visiting artist. It is the subtle tracks and scars left by people and animals over time and the impact of the seasons that are the focus of Hill’s work, rather than pictorial views of magnificent geological formations or the romantic lights of dawn and dusk.

Paul Hill is considered to be one of the most influential British photographers in the last 30 years.

During this time he has had his photographs exhibited in several galleries such as the Serpentine Gallery, the Southbank Centre, the Camden Arts Centre and the Photographers’ Gallery, whilst his work is included in numerous permanent collections around the world: The Victoria & Albert Museum; the British Council; the Arts Council of Great Britain; the National Media Museum, Bradford; the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio and the Japanese Photography Foundation, Tokyo.

Paul Hill was born in Ludlow, Shropshire in 1941 and lives and works in Derbyshire. He has received several awards of recognition including a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1990 and a Fellowship of the Hasslebald Foundation in 1993 and in 1994 he was awarded an MBE for his contribution to British photography. In 2011, Paul Hill was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Art by the University of Derby.

The prints in the exhibition are available in various sizes and all are limited editions of 5 + 1 AP. For further information on White Peak, Dark Peak, or forthcoming exhibitions at Eleven please contact Susannah Haworth on 020 7823 5540 or on susannah@elevenfineart.com