Robert Studley Forrest Hughes Australia, 1938-2012
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Robert Hughes
Auction Houses
About Robert Hughes
Born in New South Wales in 1938, Hughes studied architecture at Sydney University, but left the profession for a position as a cartoonist and illustrator with Sydney's 'Daily Telegraph'. He later became art critic for the Murdoch Group of newspapers as well as writing for 'Art and Australia'. He held a successful exhibition in 1963 before travelling to the UK where he wrote for the 'London Observer' and the 'Sunday Times'. Hughes later became the art critic for 'Time' magazine in New York. In 1966 Hughes published a history of Australian painting titled The Art of Australia followed in 1987 by The Fatal Shore, a study of the British penal colonies and early European settlement of Australia, it became an international best-seller. In 1980 he co-produced a BBC eight-part series The Shock of the New on the development of modern art since the Impressionists, a accompanied by a book with the same title. He died in 2012 in New York.
In our database, 99 works by Robert Hughes are listed as being offered for sale, the earliest in 1971, of which 77 (78%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $3,360 for Moon Over Water sold by Artmarketspace in May 2021. This year one work has been offered for sale. Works by Robert Hughes are held by the Art Gallery of NSW and National Gallery of Australia.
Robert Hughes is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 535
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 329
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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