Artist: Hughie O'Donoghue (b.1953) Title: Red Earth VI (1995) Signature: signed and dated 1995 verso Medium: oil on canvas Size: 218½ x 195½cm (86 x 77in) Framed Size: 218.5 x 195.5cm (86 x 77in) Provenance: Archeus / Post Modern Gallery, London; These Auction Rooms, 5th December 2016, Lot 33; Private Collection Exhibited: Andata e Ritorno: British Artists in Italy 1890-1996; Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, 6th July - 3rd August 1996 a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} Like many of Hughie O'Donoghue's works, 'Red Earth VI' begins with an image-often photographic-over which layers of paint are gradually applied, in a creative process that partly obscures the image but also results in a visually dramatic and compelling work of art. There is aesthetic tension in the ... Read more Like many of Hughie O'Donoghue's works, 'Red Earth VI' begins with an image-often photographic-over which layers of paint are gradually applied, in a creative process that partly obscures the image but also results in a visually dramatic and compelling work of art. There is aesthetic tension in the final work, where the viewer can partly discern the image, but equally is overwhelmed by the visual impact of rich earth pigments bound in oil medium, laid on with a textured, visceral quality. In 'Red Earth VI' there is a suggestion of landscape, both in the title and also in the horizon line, but there is also a sense in which O'Donoghue has depicted a world turned upside-down, where the sky above seems more solid than the earth below. Born in Manchester, to an Irish mother, and a father whose parents were from Ireland, O'Donoghue's formal art education was at Goldsmith's College in London. However, much of his appreciation of art came from visits with his father to Manchester City Art Gallery, and the influence of Veronese and Van Gogh remains an important factor in his work. In 1984 a residency at the National Gallery in London enabled him to study closely the work of Titian, Goya, Courbet and other artists within the European fine art tradition. Throughout his childhood, O'Donoghue visited Ireland frequently, becoming familiar with its history, landscape and people. His mother's parents lived near Erris in Co. Mayo, and their life, and the lives of the people of Mayo, form recurring themes in his art. He also completed several series of works based on his father's experiences in the Second World War; a theme expanded to include images based on the experiences of soldiers and others in World War I. Images of mortality and death are frequent in O'Donoghue's work, which is a mixture of figuration and abstraction and often created within a religious, or quasi-religious context, with a Biblical, apocalyptic quality to the images. Twelve large canvases, and many charcoal drawings, of a series entitled 'Episodes from the Passion', were commissioned in 1986 by Craig Baker and later presented to the Irish state. In 2005 O'Donoghue executed a large stained-glass window for the Bons Secours hospital in Galway, and the following year collaborated with Seamus Heaney to illustrate the medieval Scottish poem The Testament of Cresseid. Another stained-glass commission, in 2013, saw him creating windows for the Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey. A member of the Royal Academy, he has also been elected to Aosdána. Peter Murray, October 2020
Artist: Hughie O'Donoghue (b.1953) Title: Red Earth VI (1995) Signature: signed and dated 1995 verso Medium: oil on canvas Size: 218½ x 195½cm (86 x 77in) Framed Size: 218.5 x 195.5cm (86 x 77in) Provenance: Archeus / Post Modern Gallery, London; These Auction Rooms, 5th December 2016, Lot 33; Private Collection Exhibited: Andata e Ritorno: British Artists in Italy 1890-1996; Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, 6th July - 3rd August 1996 a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} Like many of Hughie O'Donoghue's works, 'Red Earth VI' begins with an image-often photographic-over which layers of paint are gradually applied, in a creative process that partly obscures the image but also results in a visually dramatic and compelling work of art. There is aesthetic tension in the ... Read more Like many of Hughie O'Donoghue's works, 'Red Earth VI' begins with an image-often photographic-over which layers of paint are gradually applied, in a creative process that partly obscures the image but also results in a visually dramatic and compelling work of art. There is aesthetic tension in the final work, where the viewer can partly discern the image, but equally is overwhelmed by the visual impact of rich earth pigments bound in oil medium, laid on with a textured, visceral quality. In 'Red Earth VI' there is a suggestion of landscape, both in the title and also in the horizon line, but there is also a sense in which O'Donoghue has depicted a world turned upside-down, where the sky above seems more solid than the earth below. Born in Manchester, to an Irish mother, and a father whose parents were from Ireland, O'Donoghue's formal art education was at Goldsmith's College in London. However, much of his appreciation of art came from visits with his father to Manchester City Art Gallery, and the influence of Veronese and Van Gogh remains an important factor in his work. In 1984 a residency at the National Gallery in London enabled him to study closely the work of Titian, Goya, Courbet and other artists within the European fine art tradition. Throughout his childhood, O'Donoghue visited Ireland frequently, becoming familiar with its history, landscape and people. His mother's parents lived near Erris in Co. Mayo, and their life, and the lives of the people of Mayo, form recurring themes in his art. He also completed several series of works based on his father's experiences in the Second World War; a theme expanded to include images based on the experiences of soldiers and others in World War I. Images of mortality and death are frequent in O'Donoghue's work, which is a mixture of figuration and abstraction and often created within a religious, or quasi-religious context, with a Biblical, apocalyptic quality to the images. Twelve large canvases, and many charcoal drawings, of a series entitled 'Episodes from the Passion', were commissioned in 1986 by Craig Baker and later presented to the Irish state. In 2005 O'Donoghue executed a large stained-glass window for the Bons Secours hospital in Galway, and the following year collaborated with Seamus Heaney to illustrate the medieval Scottish poem The Testament of Cresseid. Another stained-glass commission, in 2013, saw him creating windows for the Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey. A member of the Royal Academy, he has also been elected to Aosdána. Peter Murray, October 2020
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