Harold Randolph Hughan b. 11 July 1893

Also known as Harold Buzz Hughan
  • Artist (Ceramist)
Although Harold Hughan admired the genius of the Song and T’ang dynasty potters, his own practice as a studio potter was devoted to developing a distinctive Australian idiom.
Tags: Ceramics, Studio potter
You are viewing the version of bio from Oct. 15, 2021, 9:44 a.m. , as edited by Joanna Mendelssohn (moderator approved).
Revert to this revision Go to current record
exhibited at
Georges Gallery
Description

Georges Gallery at Georges of Collins Street, Melbourne.

Type
Exhibition
Note
1950
exhibited at
Brown -1970's ceramics from the Shepparton Art Gallery collection
Date
18 April 1991 - 5 December 1991
Place
Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton, VIC
Description

Exhibitors
Harold Hughan – Noel Flood – Harry Memmott
Victor Greenaway – Gwyn Hanssen Pigott
Doug Alexander – Les Blakebrough
David Bradshaw – Joan Campbell
Aleks Danko – Phyl Dunn
Margaret Dodd – Ivan Englund
Marea Gazzard – John Gilbert
Joan Grounds – Sylvia Halpern
Lorraine Jenyns – John Johnson
Col Levy – Judy Lorraine
Janet Mansfield – Anne Mercer
Milton Moon – Tim Moorhead
Reg Preston – Peter Rushforth
Shigeo Shiga – Mitsuo Shoji – Hiroe Swen
Derek Smith – Ian Sprague
Bernard Sahm – Stefan Szonyi
Peter Travis – Alan Watt

Type
Exhibition
Tags
Contemporary Ceramics, Ceramic Sculpture, Shepparton Art Museum
Note
aka Shepparton Art Museum
exhibited at
Harold Hughan : a retrospective exhibition in honour of his ninetieth birthday. 1983
Date
11 July 1983 - 25 September 1983
Place
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic.
Description

A comprehensive exhibition of Harold Hughan’s oeuvre on the occasion of his 90th birthday, curated by Kenneth Hood, former senior curator of Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria.
1983

Tags
Studio pottery, Retrospective
exhibited at
The Mainlanders
Date
25 October 1980 - 26 November 1980
Place
Design Centre of Tasmania, Corner Brisbane and Tamar Streets, Launceston, TAS, Australia
Description

An exhibition of 12 of Australia’s leading ceramists – Joan Campbell, Frederick Chepeaux, Peter Hook, Harold Hughan, Judy Lorraine, Carl McConnell, Phillip McConnell, Gus McLaren, Alan Peascod, Reg Preston, Josef Szirer, Alan Watt.

exhibited at
H R Hughan Retrospective Exhibition 1969
Date
1969
Place
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic.
Description

The first scholarly retrospective exhibition of the studio potter, Harold Hughan.
1969

Tags
Studio pottery
exhibited at
1956 Olympic Arts Festival
Date
1956
Place
Melbourne, Vic
Description

Olympic Arts Festival 1956 – Melbourne’s Cultural Olympiad.
Architecture & sculpture – Uni of Melb. Painting & Drawing – NGV, Literature – Melb Public Library. Graphics, Ind Design, Ceramics – Royal Melb Tech College, Aboriginal art – National Museum.

- Neville Bunning, Mollie Douglas, Dyson Studio Pottery, Ivan Englund, Pamela Hallandal, Harold Hughan, Graham Jones, Eileen Keys, John A. Barnard Knight, Henri Le Grand, Allan Lowe, Marguerite Mahood, Martin Boyd, Ivan McMeekin, Klytie Pate, Reg Preston, Peter Rushforth, Edward Shaw, Dorothy Sutherland, Jeffery Wilkinson

Type
Exhibition
Tags
Melbourne Olympics 1956, Industrial DesignCraft, Textile, Aboriginal Art, Sculpture, Olympic Arts Festival 1956, Melbourne’s Cultural Olympiad

Difference between this version and previous

Field This Version Previous Version
Record status moderator approved needs approval
Date modified Oct. 15, 2021, 9:44 a.m. Oct. 14, 2021, 3:10 p.m.
Related people
  • Hood, Kenneth (friend of)
  • Hood, Kenneth (friend of)
Field Changes
Biography Harold Hughan, called "Buzz" by his close friends, was born in Mildura. ¶
Hughan's work was domestic in scale as he sought to crea, the second of ten children born to Emily (née Clayton) and Randolph Hughan. He spent most of his childhood in Hamilton. It was here that he was first apprenticed as a mechanical engineer. In 1910 he moved to Geelong where he completed an Australian idiom, albeit influenced by the natural glazes and hand thrown aesthetic of Chinese and Japanese ceramics. ¶
Harold correspondence course to qualify as an electrical engineer. ¶
In 1915 he enlisted in the AIF and subsequently served on the Western Front, being commissioned as a lieutenant in 1918. In 1919 he married Lily Booth. The couple returned to Australia the following year. He subsequently worked as an electrical engineer until his retirement in 1963. ¶
Hughan had always been interested in crafts, especially woodwork and weaving. In 1940 his wife Lily and son Robert introduced him to pottery where the. As with many in the English speaking world, he was profoundly influence ofd by Bernard Leach's studio approach in 'A Potter's Book' is evident. Harold was self taught as a thrower, with reference to 'The Potter’s Craft' by C. F. Binns. ¶
Son, Robert Hughan, was. In 1941 he put his engineering skills to good use by designing and constructing a Leach style potters wheel from the crankshaft of a motorcar engine. He also designed and built a kiln at the studio he established at his Glen Iris home. ¶

His son, who shared his name, became a ceramic technologist with the CSIRO, they. Both men collaborated on developing stoneware bodies and glazes. This meant Harold could create what he had envisioned as a ceramic artist. ¶

1941 - Designed and constructed a wheel from the crankshaft of a motorcar engine, the first Leach style potter’As a result, Harold (senior) was able to create the effects wheel in Australia. ¶
Built a kiln for a pottery studio based at his Glen Iris home. ¶
Clays - had envisaged using stoneware, porcellaneous stoneware, and earthenware.
Surface decoration - Glazes:These were decorated with celadon, tenmoku, oatmeal, and gold metallic, glazes with slip decoration. Incised, brushwork. ¶

1907 - c 1910 - Trained as a Mechanical Engineer, then an Electrical Engineer. ¶
1915 - Enl, sometimes incisted in the AIF, served on the Western Front..

Harold Hughan was honoured with retrospective exhibitions in 1969 and 1983, both at the National Gallery of Victoria. B, both curated by Kenneth Hood.