Heaven: Trinidad a Scented Soft Couch

April 1961- February 1962

On April 1, 1961, Hugh returned to Trinidad as he had planned. At first he was once again enamoured with being back, but this became more measured as time went on. He wanted time to prepare new work for a show and arranged for one at the Art Society for January 1962. He was worried that money would once again be a problem but a local artist, Nina Lamming, planned to open a gallery and Hugh arranged to show with her that October. The Art society had also taken six of his paintings to London for a two-month government-sponsored exhibition of Trinidadian art.

In August through October he had a number of manic episodes, with its attendant lack of focus, punctuated by brief periods of depression. As his mania receded his focus on painting returned.

He was very pleased with the show of gouaches at Nina's gallery but only five sold. He found this quite disheartening as he felt this was among his best work and made the idea of making a living from his work seem very unlikely.

In November he took part in the Art Society's group exhibition. It was not positively reviewed, which did not improve his frame of mind. However he quickly regained his equilibrium.

In December Nina held an auction, which Hugh thought both commendable and exciting, and his sales fetched more than anyone else.

When it came to preparing his large January exhibition at the Art Society Gallery, Hugh was even more last-minute than usual as well as cavalier in his attitude to preparations. This perhaps betrayed an increasing defensiveness about the reception he expected his work to get. He was nevertheless very pleased with how the show of some 42 paintings looked.

As was the case in 1960, when he approached the end of his stay, Hugh was very keen to leave Trinidad. He was increasingly disenchanted with the political situation particularly because of what he saw as the Williams government's politics of racial division. This was understandable, given Hugh's extreme dislike of racial prejudice however directed. He also referred to the "coming dictatorship" but gave no reasons for his belief that this was going to happen. These thoughts may have been a reflection of the views of his friend Albert Gomes, who was planning to leave Trinidad for New York at this time.

Hugh's need to retreat had more to it than these externalities. During all the years living in New York he had kept a very low profile, cocooned in a tight circle of sympathetic friends and rarely even trying to exhibit. This was not possible in a small place like Trinidad, partly because of the circle of prominent people with whom he had associated through the Trinidad Independents (who were now viewed as seminal influences in many aspects of Trinidad's intellectual development and who were now prominent in both art and politics) and partly because his family had been and remained prominent in agriculture, business, law and politics. While he revelled in the attention and the insider status this gave him, the rough and tumble of this highly social existence wore him down. Also, his openness about his sexual orientation would not have made it easy. While this would not have been an issue within his self-selected circle in New York, in Trinidad he could not isolate himself from a full range of attitudes to homosexuality. His display of bravado in his letters and probably in some social situations made his description of himself as a "sensitive creature" seem ironic. However, it is closer to the truth and reflected his deep insecurity about the value of his work. The mixed response to his work was ultimately the most destructive thing for him and once again fuelled his wish to leave.