Hughie O'Donoghue
Born 1953

Born in 1953 in Manchester, England, Hughie O'Donoghue received an MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths' College, University of London, in 1982. In 1995, he moved to County Kilkenny, Ireland, where he currently lives and works. In 1996, he participated in the Artists’ Work Programme at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. His individual exhibitions include Carborundum Prints, at the Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, and at the Pfefferle Galley, Munich (1997); A Line of Retreat, at the Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, and at the Galerie Helmut Pabst, Frankfurt (1997); Via Crucis, at the Haus der Kunst, Munich (1997); and Crossing the Rapido, at the Purdy Hicks Gallery, London (1998).  His group exhibitions include Last Dreams of the Millennium: The Re-emergence of British Romantic Painting, at the University Art Gallery, California State University, Stanislaus, the Main Art Gallery, California State University, Fullerton, and at the University of Hawaii (1997-1998).  O’Donoghue’s work was also included in When Time Began to Rant and Rage: Figurative Painting from 20th Century Ireland, at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, the University of California Art Museum, Berkeley, the Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York and at the Barbican Art Gallery, London (1998). 

'A Line of Retreat' and 'Crossing the Rapido' are works relating to the retreat from France in 1940 and the Italian Campaign 1943 - 45 based on his father's experience at this time and originate from letters written by his father to his mother from the period 1942-46.  A major exhibition of these history paintings took place at the Imperial War Museum, London in June 2003 and toured to  Manchester.  A monograph entitled ‘Hughie O'Donoghue: Painting, Memory, Myth was published by Merrill in May 2003.

Public collections of O’Donoghue’s work include: Arts Council of Great Britain; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; The British Museum, London; The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin; Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow; The Imperial War Museum, London; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; The National Gallery, London; Trinity College, Dublin; The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, USA.