Clifton Pugh

Clifton Ernest Pugh (17 December 1924 – 14 October 1990) was an Australian artist and three-time winner of Australia's Archibald Prize. One of Australia's most renowned and successful painters, Pugh was strongly influenced by German Expressionism, and was known for his landscapes and portraiture. Important early group exhibitions include The Antipodeans, the exhibition for which Bernard Smith drafted a manifesto in support of Australian figurative painting, an exhibition in which Arthur Boyd, David Boyd, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, John Perceval and Charles Blackman showed; a joint exhibition with Barry Humphries, in which the two responded to Dadaism; and Group of Four at the Victorian Artists Society Gallery with Pugh, John Howley, Don Laycock and Lawrence Daws. In 1990 he was appointed as the Australian War Memorial's official artist at the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Gallipoli landing.

Early life

Pugh was born in Richmond, Victoria, one of three, to English-born Thomas Owen Pugh, an assistant mechanical engineer, and Adelaide born wife Violet Odgen ( Cook). Both Pugh's parents were amateur painters, and as a young man during the 1940s Pugh attended evening classes at the Swinburne Technical College to study cartoon drawing. Two years later, whilst living in Adelaide, he took evening classes in life drawing at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts. A group of Japanese soldiers surrendered to the unit with which Pugh was fighting during a lull in fighting. On receiving orders to proceed, Pugh (and possibly others) tortured, shot and killed them. His training at the National Gallery School gave him a strong foundation in drawing and he learned the tonal painting technique, but when he took his teacher William (Bill) Dargie to see Sidney Nolan's Kelly and Dargie's attitude was dismissive, Pugh left the school to develop his own ideas.

In 1951 Pugh bought of bushland near Cottles Bridge, northeast of Melbourne, which he named Dunmoochin. Pugh at first camped on the site, then built a wattle-and-daub shack. Artists who worked or resided at Dunmoochin have included Rick Amor, Frank Hodgkinson, John Howley, Helen Laycock, Peter Laycock, Mirka Mora, Kevin Nolan, John Olsen, John Perceval, Alma Shanahan, Albert Tucker, Frank Werther, Fred Williams and Peter and Chris Wiseman. Pugh encountered indigenous Australian art for the first time and began utilizing incision, cross-hatching and collage. The work inspired by these journeys was part of the Group of Four Exhibits in 1955 and 1956.

Close observation of nature and its cyclical and savage rhythms became a constant theme in Pugh's painting.

Pugh held his first solo show in 1957 at the Victorian Artists Society Gallery, where he displayed landscapes and portraits. The show was well received by critics. Col. Aubrey Gibson, chairman of the National Gallery, was an early patron, as were a group of businessmen led by David Yencken and the businessman Andrew Grimwade. Pugh joined the stable of the Sydney art dealer Rudy Komon.

Pugh had consistent official support in the crucial early stages of his career. His inclusion in the 1961 Whitechapel and 1963 Tate exhibitions of Australian art gave him international exposure.

The Historic Memorials Committee bought his 1964 portrait of the Governor-General Lord De L'Isle and his 1972 portrait of Gough Whitlam. In 1972, Pugh raised the profile of the previously unknown naive artist Eric L. Stewart after discovering his paintings in a junk shop while on an ALP campaign tour, and subsequently organised posthumous exhibitions for him.

Pugh's fame as an artist grew in the 1970s following the print publication of two radio plays by Ivan Smith: Death of a Wombat and Dingo King, both of which featured Pugh's drawings and paintings. He brought Hayter’s oil viscosity printing technique back to Australia the same year.

Politics and art

Pugh chaired the Victorian ALP Arts Policy Committee from 1971, and Gough Whitlam appointed Pugh to the Australia Council for the Arts in 1973. In 1981 as Whitlam launched Pugh's biography at Realities Gallery, he joked about having to make his speech in front of his nemesis Sir John Kerr in a controversial portrait painted by Pugh in 1975; "I'll have you know I had nothing to do with the placing of the exhibit."

Protanope colour vision deficiency

Pugh's brother and grandnephew had protanope colour vision deficiency and it is probable that he did on biographical, gene pedigree inheritance and other grounds (such as failing the colour vision test when endeavouring to enlist in the Navy).

Personal life

Pugh married three times: to June Byford, Marlene Harvey and Judith Ley. Pugh had two sons with Marlene, Shane and Dailan. The marriage to Marlene ended in 1969, they divorced in 1971. He lived for some years with Adriane Strampp, who trained as a painter.

Death and legacy Pugh returned to painting full-time after his experience with the Australia Council, and despite suffering three heart attacks and minor ischaemic episodes, continued to paint and make prints until his fatal heart attack in 1990. Pugh established the Dunmoochin Foundation which now forms part of his legacy, and provides residences for artists in his bush property. Two plants of national significance have been recorded on this land. Bird and Animal (Eltham Films) Four Painters (ATV Channel 0, Melbourne) See It My Way (ABC Channel 2, Sydney) The Diamantina (De Montignie Media Productions) A Fragile Country Australian Story: Children of the Brush Part 1 (ABC Channel 2, Sydney )