Biography
Hughie O’Donoghue RA was born in Manchester, England, although many of his early summers were spent in Bangor Erris, North-west Mayo. The stark Irish scenery with its accompanying sense of tragedy, derived from the days of The Great Famine, found later expression in O’Donoghue’s art.
Hughie O’Donoghue studied at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, and since then has been exhibiting his work in a variety of international solo and group exhibitions. His painterly skills, together with his research into his subjects, has enabled him to produce a highly acclaimed body of work, several prestigious awards (including an honorary doctorate from University College Cork) and a distinguished reputation, not least for his masterful expression of human suffering.
He has exhibited widely in the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Australia, and the USA. O’Donoghue was elected as a member of the Royal Academy in 2000. He is in major private and public collections nationally and internationally including the British Museum; Trinity College, Dublin; Gemeentemuseum, Netherlands; and Art Gallery of South Australia.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Original Sins, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
2022 Three Rivers, Twelve Stars Gallery, London
2021-22 Deep Water and the Architecture of Memory, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2019-20 Time, Tide and the Memory of the House, Hunt Museum, Limerick
2018 Scorched Earth, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2017 The Tempest: Ireland; Memory; Identity, Belfast International Arts Festival
2016-17 The Red Earth, Visual Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow
2016 Seven Halts on the Somme, Leighton House Museum, London
2016 One Hundred Years and Four Quarters, Galway International Art Festival, Galway
2015 Permanent Green, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2014 The Measure of all Things, The Chapter House, Westminster Abbey, London
2014 Seven Halts on the Somme, Verey Gallery, Eton College, Windsor
2013 A Need for Gardens, The Hunt Museum, Limerick
2013 A Need for Gardens, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2012 Painting/Memory, Artist’s Laboratory 05, Royal Academy, London
2012 Vivid Field, Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal
2012 A Moments Liberty, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2012 Exhibition at Albert Hall, London
2011 Raharc 6 Contemporary Painters from Ireland, Irish American Society, New York
2010 Last Days on the Island, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin
2011 Dox Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
2007, Last Poems, Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin
2006 Souvenir of St. Valery, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Seafaring, Hastings Contemporary
2021 Hockney to Himid: Twenty Years of British Printmaking, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
2021 Art Makes Art, Bankside Gallery, London
2014 The Power of the Sea, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2012 The Mechanical Hand, Kings Place Gallery, London
2012 Borrowed Memories, Luan Gallery, Athlone, Ireland
2011 Afterlife, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England
2010 RHA Summer Exhibition, Dublin
2007-2008 I’m Always Touched by your Presence, Dear – New Acquisitions, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2005 Ljubjana International Graphic Biennale representing Great Britain
Public Collections
Arts Council of Great Britain
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
British Museum
Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
Cleveland County Museums, Middlesbrough
Crawford Art Gallery, Cork
Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham
Dublin City Gallery, Hugh Lane, Dublin
Eton College, Windsor, Berkshire
Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, Netherlands
Huddersfield Art Gallery
Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
Hunt Museum, Limerick
Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow
The Imperial War Museum, London
The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Mayo General Hospital
Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor
National University of Ireland, Cork
National University of Ireland, Galway
National University of Ireland, Maynooth
The National Gallery, London
The Royal Collection, Windsor Castle
St John’s College, University of Oxford
Trinity College Dublin
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Ulster Museum, Belfast
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven