Bulley, Hugh (1924-2020) (Bridgeman Studio)
Creator details
- Name
- Bulley, Hugh (1924-2020)
- Nationality
- British
- Biography
- The Dramatic Paintings of Hugh Bulley are brightly coloured and strikingly original interpretations of some of the greatest works of Classical and Western literature. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Naxos, and Penguin (Korea) have published his bold images as front covers. His illustrations have appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, and Le Monde, amongst other newspapers. Individual illustrations have featured in an art manual for Open University students in the UK; and in student textbooks by Larousse, and Nathan, Paris. Hugh Bulley’s career in the USA was launched by a group exhibition: Wash Art ’80, Washington DC: Original graphics by Major Artists of Tomorrow. He has exhibited his work at the Alex Rosenberg Fine Art gallery in New York, and in Solo Exhibitions in Arizona and Texas. His group exhibitions in the UK, include: Wildenstein, and Burlington House, London; Brighton Art Gallery, and Glasgow Museum of Fine Arts. He has had solo exhibitions in Madrid, Spain; Basel, Switzerland, and at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Hugh Bulley’s series paintings of Voltaire’s Candide were published by The Centre International d’étude du XVIIIe siècle at Ferney-Voltaire in France, and reviewed by Philippe Sollers in Le journal du Mois: ‘Les illustrations sont pleines d’invention et de fraîcheur…’ Hugh Bulley was guest of honour of the mayor of Ferney-Voltaire for the town’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the publication of Voltaire’s Candide. The statue of Voltaire in the square, the town and its bus stops were bedecked with Bulley’s front cover image of the running figure of Candide. Hugh Bulley’s most recent work has been on Horace’s Odes, Book I. This is his latest in a set of sixteen series paintings. The first, Peace, accompanied by three other of his series paintings, was shown in a solo exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, as: The Dramatic Paintings of Hugh Bulley. He has interpreted the following plays and literary works since: Homer: The Odyssey Aeschylus: The Persians, and Prometheus Bound Aristophanes: Peace, The Acharnians, The Knights, The Birds, and Lysistrata Horace: Odes, Book 1 Ovid: Metamorphoses Shakespeare: Antony & Cleopatra (one canvas) Arabian Nights translated by Sir Richard Burton Voltaire: Candide, and Zadig George Bernard Shaw: Caesar and Cleopatra Bertolt Brecht: Mother Courage Hugh Bulley: A Boy at Sea (memoirs) His freshness of outlook in the visual interpretation of classical themes make his series of paintings appropriate for university picture galleries, and as powerful illustrations of the great works of drama and literature.
