Melbourne 1935
Crichton’s physical journeys, to America and Ireland and to the remoter parts of Aboriginal Australia, have been triggers for a grand search for origins. There’s an obvious contemporary relevance to this concern with population exchange, national and personal identity; but Crichton’s journeys are not intended as social commentary. More to do with a search for meaning and direction, personal milestones that might have a universal connection, the natural tendency of the artist to fully clothe his inner life… he makes paintings, not art-political statements about race relations or reconciliation. He deals not with cultural appropriations but with the abstract bones of picture making; expressive coloured shapes and spaces, inventive and emotionally loaded areas of flat stuff arranged on other flat stuff. Ronald Millar, artist and critic 2002.
RICHARD CRICHTON
Melbourne, 1935
AWARDS AND APPOINTMENTS
1956-66 Lecturer in Fine Art , RMIT
1965 Commendation Award Georges Art Prize
1967-69 Harkness Fellowship of the Commonwealth Fund
1970 Commendation Award Alice Springs Art Prize
1970-80 Lecturer in Fine Art RMIT
1981 Appointed artist-in-residence, University of South Carolina USA
1981-94 Senior Lecturer RMIT
1981-82 Appointed International Visiting Artist, Georgia State University Atlanta USA
1987 Gold Coast Art Award
COLLECTIONS
Georgia State University Collection, Atlanta, USA
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery, Victoria
Ballarat Regional Gallery
Castlemaine Art Gallery& Historical Museum
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville
Gold Coast Art Centre
University of Melbourne
LaTrobe University
Flinders University, Adelaide
High Court of Australia, Canberra
Parliament House, Sydney
Reserve Bank, Sydney
Artbank
International & national private and corporate collections
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1960 Gallery A Melbourne
1963 Australian Galleries
1965 Bonython Galleries Adelaide
1966 Australian Galleries; Bonython’s Hungry Horse Gallery Sydney
1967 Bonython Gallery Adelaide
1969 Australian Galleries Melbourne, New York paintings (Parade)
1970 Bonython Galleries Sydney and Adelaide
1971 Australian Galleries Melbourne, Cow Series
1974 Macquarie Gallery Sydney
1976 Macquarie Gallery Sydney
1978 Melbourne University Gallery, Profile Works 1958-78
1980 Macquarie Gallery Sydney, Farewell Ballet
1982 Lagerquist Gallery Atlanta USA , Atlanta Pastels
1982University of South Carolina Beaufort USA, Spring Arts Festival
1982 Georgia State University USA, 3 Points Survey Show
1986 Powell Street Gallery Melbourne, Summer Diary Lagerquist Gallery Atlanta USA
1989 BMG Fine Art Gallery Sydney, The Journey
1991 Kenthurst Gallery Sydney, Summer Diary 2
1992 Kenthurst Gallery Sydney, Childhood Album
2002 Lauraine Diggins Fine Art Melbourne, The Far Shores
2009 Eastgate & Holst Melbourne, Survey 1955 – 1975
2011 Eastgate & Holst Melbourne, Works from the Studio
2012 Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum, Retrospective
2014 Eastgate & Holst Melbourne, Works from the Studio
2016 Eastgate Gallery, Campfires, Journeys & Other Things
