Hugh Charlton:HUGH CHARLTON, who has died aged 82, was a businessman, art dealer and owner of the Apollo Gallery, Dawson Street, Dublin.
The gallery, once described as “more TK Maxx than fine art boutique”, is hard to miss. Paintings and prints are crammed into colourful window displays, inviting passersby to view the work exhibited on the gallery’s three floors.
Works by Percy French and Roderic O’Conor are shown alongside those by the prolific Tom Byrne and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
Not everyone has liked what they’ve seen. The Personal Guarantee, a painting featuring then taoiseach Brian Cowen, was withdrawn from display after complaints were made to gallery staff in 2010.
By contrast, a person or persons unknown had liked a portrait of Bob Dylan enough to steal it in a “smash and grab” raid eight years previously. The portrait, painted on a large ceramic plate, was the only object taken.
Hugh Charlton was born in 1930, the son of William Charlton and his wife Alice (née Reilly) of Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh. Tuberculosis put an end to his law studies at Queen’s University Belfast and, after receiving treatment, he pursued business studies at University College Dublin.
A successful businessman, he secured the rights to distribute Sony products in Ireland. In the 1970s, however, he was involved in protracted litigation which arose from the takeover in 1972 of the Mooney chain of pubs in Dublin by Pat Quinn Holdings (PQH), of which he was a director. PQH was advised by Northern Bank Finance Corporation (NBFC) and acquired Mooneys for approximately £2 million.
When NBFC took Charlton and his fellow takeover promoters to court in relation to repayment of a loan, the court decided the bank had been guilty of fraudulent misrepresentation over its part in the takeover.
The legal proceedings ended in 1979 after Charlton and his partners were awarded £425,000 damages by the High Court.
Switching his attention to the art market, he opened the Apollo Gallery in Blackrock, Co Dublin. He moved the gallery to Duke Street before finally setting up shop on Dawson Street.
Among the artists he was associated with was Markey Robinson, the popular Belfast-born painter reputed to have produced over 10,000 works. He subsequently represented Robinson’s daughter Annie.
For 15 years he also represented Graham Knuttel, whom he described as the “next Picasso”. Knuttel’s reputation grew to such an extent that celebrity collectors such as Frank Sinatra, Sylvester Stallone and Robert de Niro bought his work.
In 2005 Charlton devised a “unique sales technique” whereby buyers could purchase works by specified artists on the understanding that the gallery would purchase them back after five years at twice the original price.
His thinking was that the majority of collectors do not normally resell. “I suppose we are depending on that a little for this offer to work,” he said. However, the scheme did not quite work as intended. Twice in the past year the courts ruled against him in cases arising from such sales.
Charlton said one of the pleasures of running a gallery was discovering and nurturing a “rare, new talent”. It was a pleasure he experienced more than once.
In 1963 he married Maureen O’Farrell, co-author of the musical The Heart’s A Wonder, adapted from Synge’s Playboy of the Western World. She predeceased him in 2007. He is survived by his sons Julian and Edward.
Hugh Charlton: born March 26th, 1930; died July 13th, 2012