Rudolph Hough

Bio

Rudolf Hough was born in Bethlehem in the Northern Free State on 28 May 1953.

As a young boy he became interested in drawing things, mostly copying the comics in newspapers such as “Tarzan of the Apes” and “The Shadow”, having been translated into Afrikaans and known as “die Skim” etc.

Having been introduced to the mysteries of steam locomotives via train travel during holidays, locomotives inspired an incessant interest in drawing them correctly and understanding their technical details. This became invaluable information for him in later life when acquiring the expertise required in the art of bronze casting.

Rudolf matriculated in 1970 at the Johannesburg High School for Art, Ballet and Music. He studied Graphic design at the Johannesburg College of Art and later in 1990 continued studying the History of Art at UNISA. In 1980 he shared offices with Glynis Clouston as a freelance airbrush illustrator for advertising agencies.

In 1984 Rudolf joined Spoornet to work on the footplate for one year when they decided to phase out steam locomotives. After a first attempt at Fine Art he joined Alfred County Railways, leaving as a qualified Steam locomotive driver in December 1999. During these years he continued producing artworks, both drawings and paintwork.

Rudolf became a member of the South African Guild of Railway Artists, started by Spoornet. He participated in three group exhibitions which were sponsored by Spoornet in Johannesburg, Kimberly and Bloemfontein, exhibiting with several South African artists as well as the internationally known British wildlife artist,
David Shepard. Rudolf resigned from ACR at the end of 1999 and committed himself to fulltime sculpting and painting, starting a self -imposed apprenticeship of bronze foundry work at the PACE center in Port Shepstone. Here he joined up with Stephen Rautenbach teaching art to the interested public.

Rudolf relocated to Cape Town to join the Ingwe Editions bronze foundry where he gained knowledge and experience in all fields of producing high quality bronze sculpture. He worked and created artwork for Transformation Studios, originating his first wildlife “bowl” concept there. Rudolf went on from there to a bronze foundry building as well as assisting many South African artists to enlarge their work, first for Dylan Lewis and then for artists like Anton Momberg, Donald Grieg and Lionel Smit etc.

For the past many years Rudolf has been concentrating on building his own collection of artworks working with themes and myths around the Egyptian boat of millions of years, the Holy Grail, The marriage boat etc. All of them through animal wildlife themes. He has exhibited at many small exhibitions in and around the Stellenbosch area. These exhibitions ended when most galleries preferred to sell Artworks via online marketing.