CLIFTON PUGH

Pugh was tutored by William Dargie at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School (1947-1949) and in 1951 purchased a section of bush thirty miles from Melbourne, building a house and studio he called Dunmoochin. Attracting other artists to the area he formed the Dunmoochin Artists Society in 1953. Pugh’s expressive and painterly works are brutally honest in their depiction of predators, hunters and survivors in the outback, with the artist objectively acknowledging the damage caused by introduced species such as rabbits and cats on native wildlife.

Complementing his reputation for his description of life in the outback, Pugh also developed a profile as a portraitist, noted for his informality and insightful understanding of his subjects. He won the Archibald prize in 1965, 1971 and 1972. Pugh established the Dunmoochin Foundation for the preservation of the native bush and an artist-in-residency programme at his studio in 1989.

He has work in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and in Parliament House, Canberra.