Lot 31
JAMES PATERSON R.S.W., R.S.A., R.W.S. (SCOTTISH 1854-1932)
SUMMER PASTURES
£3,500
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Day Sale: 16 June 2022 | From 15:00
Description
Signed, inscribed and dated 'Moniaive 1890', oil on canvas
Dimensions
Footnote
A significant figure in the Glasgow Boys movement, James Paterson continues to be celebrated for his restrained yet decorative scenes, particularly of his beloved Moniaive and its surrounding terrain. This selected group of paintings reflect Paterson’s enduring love of landscape and his painterly elegance across mediums.
Paterson was raised within a well-to-do Glasgow family with a deep appreciation for the arts, thus he was supported in his endeavour to leave the family manufacturing business to pursue watercolour lessons at the Glasgow School of Art. His education continued with five years spent in Paris, working in the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens and spending summers travelling across Europe and making visits back home. While in Scotland he travelled to locations along the east coast to paint with fellow artist and friend, William York Macgregor. When Paterson returned home from Paris in 1882, this friendship continued and he spent time working in MacGregor’s studio on Bath Street. This studio became a centre-point for artists in the city, where discussions took place and Macgregor organised life drawing classes; the two men’s friendship is now considered a keystone in the evolution of the wider Glasgow Boys movement.
Paterson once said that landscape painters should not ‘flirt with a new neighbour each remaining summer,’ and in many ways he followed his own guidance, returning repeatedly to Moniaive and its surrounding landscape. He first discovered the charming Dumfries-shire village in 1879 and moved there following his marriage in 1884. ‘Summer Pastures’ is quintessential Paterson, restrained yet decorative. He accurately captures the landscape, but the composition remains beautifully considered and balanced; elegance conveyed in the simplicity of his handling.
Paterson travelled further afield at different times of his life; during his artistic training in Paris and then later in his life, from 1900 and even more so after the death of his wife in 1910. By this point he was living in Edinburgh, so possibly felt compelled at times to escape the urban environment and his responsibilities at the Royal Scottish Academy. The continent also allowed for the exploration of a different palette, the heat adding a sandier tone to his range, the lighter washes of colour a step away from the jewelled blues and greens he uncovered across in Scotland.
This selected group of paintings are a real treat to behold and reveal the truth of Paterson as an artist, a considered and elegant painter, at home and abroad.
