The Birkenhead Bridge & Boats - 1979

Hugo Shaw (1937–2025) was one of South Australia’s most respected and quietly influential artists, renowned for his evocative oil and watercolour landscapes of the state’s rugged coastline — particularly Port Willunga, which became both his lifelong subject and a place of sustained artistic exploration. His work is admired for its sensitivity to light, atmosphere, and colour, and for its ability to convey not just the appearance of a place, but the lived experience of being there.

Shaw studied at the South Australian School of Art before spending six years as a visualiser in advertising, where he was mentored by the esteemed Sir Ivor Hele. In the early 1960s, he continued his studies at the Byam Shaw Art School in London under Maurice de Sausmarez, immersing himself in the great European collections. On returning to Adelaide, he taught art at St Peter’s College for 23 years, shaping generations of young artists, before retiring in 1987 to devote himself to painting full-time.