Rita Donagh

Rita Donagh (born 1939) is a British artist known for her realistic paintings and painstaking draughtsmanship.

RIta Donagh was born in 1939 and studied at the University of Durham.^[1]

Donagh taught at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where she met Richard Hamilton, whom she later married. She also taught at the University of Reading, the Slade School of Art, and Goldsmiths, University of London. In the 1960s and 1970s, her work was largely conceptual with her Irish ancestry contributing to the subject of many works depicting the political situation in Northern Ireland. Hamilton's influence of collage and oil paint showed up in her works of the 1970s. Later, she focused on the human figure including such work as Slade of 1994. She continued her interest in politics with works such as Downing Street Declaration (1993) which included a Hamilton-esque, televised image of Prime Minister John Major.

Donagh, who was widowed in 2011, lives and works in Oxfordshire.

Her work is in the permanent collection of the Tate Gallery.^[1]

References

Bibliography

• Rita Donagh: Paintings and Drawings (exhibition catalog, ed. M. Regan; Manchester, U. Manchester, Whitworth A.G., 1977)
• Rita Donagh 197419841994: Paintings and Drawings (exhibition catalog, essay Dr. Sarat Maharaj, Manchester, Cornerhouse, 1994)
• Civil Rights etc.: Rita Donagh and Richard Hamilton (exhibition catalog, Dublin, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, 2011)