Hughie O’Donaghue, born in 1953 in Manchester, is a graduate of Trinity and All Saints College (today Leeds Trinity College) and a Masters from Goldsmiths UCL. From an early age Hughie was exposed to the arts by both his parents. His father influenced and nurtured his interest through study of History and Literature and regular visits to Manchester City Art Gallery. Visit to Gaeltacht in Ireland where his mother came from gave him the opportunity to explore the landscape of County Mayo and to listen and learn the traditional folk stories. All this left an indelible interest in Art and in particular painting.
Hughie work as an artist is derived from a deep knowledge and understanding of the abstract and the figurative. The apt description of his style of work is by the Royal Academy
‘His paintings explore themes of universal human experience, often on an epic scale, they meditate on ideas of truth and the relationship between memory and identity, drawing on history and personal records to create works which resonate with emotional intensity.’
The Royal Academy on Hughie O’Donaghue
Above image: The Full Heat Of the Sun by Hughie O’Donaghue
In 1984 O’Donaghue started his two-year artist residency at the National Gallery in London, that same year he also held his first solo show at the AIR Gallery in London. This set Hughie on a stratospheric career as an artist with acclaimed solo exhibitions including shows at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Purdy Hicks Gallery London, Imperial War Museum North in Salford and Birmingham’s Gas Hall Gallery. His work has been exhibited in the Schirm Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in the Hague, Leeds Art Gallery, Centre Cultural Irlandais in Paris and Trinity Hall Cambridge University. In 2009 he received an honorary doctorate from National University of Ireland and in 2009 Hughie O’Donaghue was elected as a Royal Academician (Painting).
All images © Hughie O’Donaghue RA. All rights reserved.