Royston Harpur Estate

1938 - 2023

Lived & Worked Mudgee, Australia

As a young man Royston Harpur began writing poetry and studied art with Polish-born painter Maximilian Feuerring before moving to the UK and Malta in 1964. Harpur became Gallery Manager of the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, and while in London performed in experimental dance pieces with members of the Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham company, as well as taking part in Happenings.

On returning to Australia in 1966 he became involved as director and exhibiting artist with the influential Central Street Gallery in Sydney. Two large shows at Gallery A in Sydney and Melbourne established his reputation as an artist. It was at this time that he met several Japanese artists, including the important calligraphist Shotei Ibata, with whom he formed a life-long friendship. Harpur was appointed Curator of European and American Art at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1968, the year of the landmark exhibition of Colour Field painting and abstract sculpture, The Field. Harpur contributed an oft-cited essay to the exhibition catalogue.

Harpur's interests in comparative religion, archaeology and philology led him to travel and study in many parts of the world. Most often described as a Chan (Zen) Buddhist, he moved to Kyotoi n the early 1970s, aformative experience that had a permanent influence on his art making.

Interest in East Asian philosophical perspectives and aesthetics impacted a wide group of artists at this time, including Stanislaus Rapotec, Yvonne Audette, Peter Upward, John Olsen, Henry Salkauskas and Ian Fairweather - and the development of Australian abstraction in general.