Richard Larter

Richard Larter (1929–2014) was born in Hornchurch, Essex, and studied art at St Martin’s School of Art, London and Toynbee Hall in London before completing his training as a teacher in Surrey in the mid 1950s. In 1962 his work was exhibited in the Paris Salon and that same year he immigrated to Australia with his family. Larter continued teaching in Sydney until 1972, then worked as an artist full-time. With his wife, Patricia Larter (1936-1996) he experimented with sound, film and performance as well as printmaking and painting. In 1996, their collaborative works were awarded the Peter Clemenger Prize for Contemporary Art and were included in the Adelaide Biennale and Melbourne Super Eight Festival.

Over his distinguished career, Larter was represented by the Watters Gallery in Sydney and held over 50 solo exhibitions. His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.

In 1999 the Watters and Legge galleries combined to celebrate Richard Larter’s oeuvre with a 70th birthday exhibition. This was followed by survey exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art at Heide (2002), the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (2006), and a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia in 2008.