Virtual Art Tour

Matthew Hillier, English, born 1958

Tiger in Water

Take Your Partner

Snowy Egret in Surf

Bedded Down

Snowy at Sunset

The Tide Turns

Back Country Encounter

Crossing the Yellowstone

Now living in the United States, Matthew Hillier was born in Buckinghamshire, England and grew up near Windsor Castle. Drawing and painting animals is something he has loved to do since he was a child. Hillier’s father was a museum designer who taught his son the rudiments of painting with watercolors, a medium Hillier used during his years as an illustrator, along with gouache.

In recent years, when he made the transition from illustrator to wildlife artist, he also switched to acrylic because it involves a looser painting process. Traveling widely in search of subjects to study and paint, Hillier has visited Africa - where he was once charged by an angry elephant - many times, as well as India, Europe and Southeast Asia. He loves the big cats and rhinos, and finds himself drawn to the water birds. When doing field research, Hillier sketches and also takes photographs, finding that while the photos are very useful for details of color, shape, background and texture, sketching forces him to “feel the subject” more.

Hillier studied at Dyfed College of Art in Carmanthen, West Wales, graduating with distinction. Three of his paintings were accepted by the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and he has exhibited regularly at the Pastel Society, the Society of Wildlife Artists (where he is a council member), The Royal Institute and the Miniature Society, as well as the Paris Salon, the Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Blaritz Salon.

A member of the Society of Animal Artists, his work is part of their traveling exhibition. He has participated in Christie’s Wildlife Art Auction and his work has been included many times in Leigh Yawkey Woodson’s touring show of “Birds in Art.” He has had one-man exhibitions throughout Great Britain and has illustrated several books. In 1995 he won the World Wildlife Fund Fine Art Award. In 1998 he received The People’s Choice Award from the Florida Wildlife and Western Art Expo, and in both 1997 and 1998 he received the Society of Animal Artists’ Award of Excellence. He was one of six Featured Artists at the Florida Wildlife Art Exposition in 2001 and was also featured at the Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland. His work is displayed and sold in galleries across the United States and the United Kingdom.