Edward
Robert Hughes Biography
Edward
Robert Hughes RWS (1851-1914) The symbolist painter E. R. Hughes was
the nephew of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes, under whom
he studied before proceeding to the Royal Academy Schools. He later
worked on and off for Holman Hunt, and knew Burne-Jones. He exhibited
at the Royal Academy from 1870-1911, but made his name at the Royal
Watercolourist Society, becoming ARWS in 1891, RWS in 1895, and Vice
President of the institution for the period 1901-3. He was based in
London, but moved to St Albans in 1913. What sort of paintings do
we get from a painter with such a Pre-Raphaelite background? There
is much of Burne-Jones in his work, perhaps most strikingly in his
Oh What's That in the Hollow, his diploma work at the RWS, which is
a symbolist version of Burne-Jones's Briar Rose series. He produced
some very Pre-Raph portraits of girls with long hair also. However,
it is the consistently symbolist nature of his work that separates
him from the Pre-Raphaelites, and his best known work, Night with
her Train of Stars is very much of that genre. Many of his pictures
have ancient or (obscure) literary themes, typically with nude or
semi-clad girls, again usually symbolist. However, one more Pre-Raphaelite
influence in his work is the backgrounds, often highly detailed and
sympathetically depicted landscape. He
seems to have tried various other genres before settling his style,
including the occasional go at a fairy picture, and a couple tending
towards the erotic in a rather von Stuckish style. He also produced
a number of child portraits dissimilar from his other work.
Midsummer Eve
Hughes,
Edward Robert
16 in. x 20 in.
Buy
this Art Print
