Robert Hughes Lecture

Title: The Critic Speaks - Robert Hughes at the National Gallery of Ireland
When: Friday 31 December 1.30pm
Producer: Clíodhna Ní Anluain

Click here to listen to the lecture

A radio presentation of a lecture delivered in the National Gallery of Ireland in November 2004.

2004 marks a very special year for the National Gallery of Ireland as it celebrates 150 Years of its foundation by an Act of Parliament in 1854.  During the year Robert Hughes was invited to give a timely lecture entitled: "A Nation's Self Image in an Art Museum".

The lecture has been produced for RTÉ Radio 1 by Clíodhna Ní Anluain. In it, Hughes asks many pertinent questions about the role of a national Gallery today in a thought-provoking and engaging hour-long programme delivered with the experience and fluency so associated with this world-renowned critic and broadcaster.

Robert Hughes is recognised as one of the best art critics of our time, a refreshingly sane and clear communicator who has changed and shaped the way in which we think about art, culture and history. Born in Australia in 1938, Hughes studied arts and architecture at Sydney University, during which time he made a name for himself within a progressive group of artists, writers and intellectuals.

He left Australia for Britain in the early 1960s, writing for such publications as The Spectator, The Telegraph, The Times and The Observer, before landing the position of art critic for Time Magazine in 1970.

Important books he has written and broadcasting projects he has written and presented include The Shock of the New (1981), The Fatal Shore (1987), Culture
of Complaint (1993) and American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America (1997).