Ambrose McCarthy Patterson
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Ambrose McCarthy Patterson was a painter and printmaker born in Daylesford, Australia on June 29, 1877. He studied at the National Gallery Art School in Melbourne and continued his studies in Paris at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian under Lucien Simon, André Lhote and Maxime Maufra. In Paris he became a friend of compatriot, Nellie Melba, the famous soprano. Through her influence, he was able to continue his studies with John Singer Sargent. He became part of the Paris arts scene and exhibited at the first Salon d'Automne exhibitions. He had five paintings at the 1905 Paris Salon at which Henri Matisse and the fauves stunned the art world.
After a visit to his homeland in 1909 or 1910, he spent the following seven years in Hawaii. Following a year in San Francisco, he moved to Seattle to work as a freelance artist, perhaps being the first modern artist in that city. In 1919 he established the University of Washington School of Painting and Design. Patterson married painter and former student Viola Hansen in 1922, and the two became major figures in northwest arts. Patterson taught until his retirement in 1947. He died in Seattle in 1967.
Patterson's paintings can be found in the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), the National Portrait Gallery (Australia) (Canberra), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum.
[edit] References
- Alexander, Jane, "Portrait of an Artist: Ambrose Patterson (1877 - 1996) From the Latin Quarter to the pot pourri of Palamadom", Jimaringle Publications, Melbourne, Australia, 1992.
- Hughes, Glenn (Editor), "Hawaii, Twelve Woodcuts by Ambrose Patterson", Seattle, University of Washington Book Store, 1928.
