Robert H. Hudson

Robert Hudson
After Wood, painted steel, 1990, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Born
Robert H. Hudson

(1938-09-08)September 8, 1938
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
DiedJune 14, 2024 (aged 85)
NationalityAmerican
EducationSan Francisco Art Institute
Known forSculpture
MovementModernist sculpture, Geometric abstraction
Spouse(s)Cornelia Schulz (m. 1962–?; divorced);
Mavis Jukes (m. 1977–present)
Children4

Robert H. Hudson (born September 8, 1938 – June 14, 2024)[1] was an American visual artist. He is known for his funk art assemblage of metal sculptures,[2] but he has also worked in painting and printmaking.

Hudson lives and works in Cotati, Sonoma County, California.[2][3]

Early life and education

Robert Hudson was born in 1938 in Salt Lake City, Utah and he grew up in Richland, Washington.[3] At a young age he became interested in making art.[3]

Hudson moved to San Francisco, California, in 1957 to attend College.[3] He received a B.F.A degree in 1961 and an M.F.A. degree in 1963, both from the California School of Fine Arts (now San Francisco Art Institute or SFAI). Hudson was a classmate of William T. Wiley.[4] Hudson studied under Nathan Oliveira, Frank Lobdell, Elmer Bischoff, Jeremy Anderson, Gurdon Woods, and Frank Hamilton.[4]

Career

Hudson is known for his funk art assemblages, from the late 1950s and 1960s. He has also produced non-objective paintings, ceramics and large steel and bronze sculptures. His first solo exhibition was in 1961 at the Richmond Art Center, while he was still in graduate school.[5]

In 2010, Hudson created a 16-story tall mural made of polychromatic enameled steel panels for One Hawthorne, a condominium building in San Francisco.[6]

Personal life

He was married in 1962 to artist Cornelia Schulz [Wikidata], whom he met at SFAI. Through his marriage to Schultz, they had two sons, and it eventually ended in divorce.[7][4] His son Case Hudson (born 1968) is a master printmaker and has worked at Crown Point Press, and Gemini G.E.L.[4][8]

Hudson's second marriage was to author Mavis Jukes in 1977, and they have two daughters together.[4] Hudson died on June 14, 2024, at the age of 85.[9]

Public collections

A photograph of a seventeen-foot tall aluminum sculpture of flattened cubelike faces standing on two angular legs. The interior faces of each cube have been painted in rainbow colors.
Tlingit (1980) by Robert Hudson, located in the atrium lobby of the interior of the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, Anchorage, Alaska. This sculpture is composed of painted aluminum, and stands 17' 10" x 11' 6" x 5' 10" in size.

Several public museum collections hold work by Hudson, they are:

References

  1. ^ a b "Robert Hudson". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  2. ^ a b Chun, Kimberly (2015-12-15). "Robert Hudson continues on funky path in new S.F. exhibit". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  3. ^ a b c d Raskin, Jonah (2005-11-18). "The Arts / Art meets alchemy in Cotati artist's studio". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Robert Hudson". FAMSF Search the Collections. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  5. ^ "Robert Hudson and Charles Frazier". Artforum.com. August 1963. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  6. ^ Sardar, Zahid (2010-06-06). "Porcelain graphic on steel leaves lasting image". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  7. ^ Baker, Kenneth (2012-06-22). "Robert Hudson, Cornelia Schulz on shape, intimacy". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  8. ^ "Case Hudson, American, born 1968". National Gallery of Art (NGA). Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  9. ^ Whiting, Sam (2024-07-18). "Bob Hudson, sculptor who worked with found objects and loud paint, dies at 85". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  10. ^ "Robert H. Hudson". Albright-Knox. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  11. ^ "Robert Hudson". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  12. ^ Rosa, Rene Di (1999). Local Color: The Di Rosa Collection of Contemporary California Art. Chronicle Books. pp. 112–114. ISBN 978-0-8118-2376-0.
  13. ^ "Artist Info, Robert Hudson". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  14. ^ "Outrigger". Crocker Art Museum. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  15. ^ a b c "Legends of The Bay Area: Robert Hudson". MarinMOCA. Retrieved 2022-05-02.

Further reading

  • Beal, Graham W.J., Jan Butterfield & Michael Schwager, Robert Hudson, a Survey, San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, 1985.
  • Brooks, Rosetta, Christine Giles & Katherine Plake Hough, Collaborations: William Allan, Robert Hudson, William Wiley, Palm Springs, Calif., Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1998.
  • Reynolds, Jock, Robert Hudson and Richard Shaw, New Ceramic Sculpture, Andover, MA, Addison Gallery of American Art, 1998.
  • Rose Art Museum, Robert Hudson, Sculpture, William T. Wiley, Painting: Patrons and Friends, Waltham, Mass., Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 1991.
  • Schjeldahl. Peter, East and West and ROBERT HUDSON, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Moore College of Art Gallery, 1977.
  • San Francisco Museum of Art, Robert Hudson / Richard Shaw, Work in Porcelain, San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, 1973.