Born in Scotland, James McIntosh Patrick (1907-1998) was an etcher, fine art painter, printmaker and educator.
From 1924, he attended the world-renowned Glasgow School of Art during which time he won many prizes and gained a scholarship. His meticulous landscape etchings caught the attention of a London print dealer, and in 1928 he received an important commission for editions of prints. With the collapse of the print market during the Great Depression, Patrick turned to oil painting, but his attention to detail in landscape remained his trademark.
From 1928, he showed at the Royal Acadamy and from 1934 at Fine Art Society. He was elected to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (the RSA) in 1957. He taught part-time at Dundee College of Art.
During WWII, Patrick served in the Camouflage Corps. Post-war was when he became famous for his intricate, realistic landscapes – especially of the area around his home town of Dundee.
Key solo exhibitions were held in 1967 at Dundee City Art Gallery and at Dundee, Aberdeen and Liverpool in 1987. A decade later, a 90th birthday celebration was held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.
Patrick’s work is held in the collections of Dundee Art Galleries, Fleming Collection, Walker Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery amongst others.
As well as fine art landscape and portrait paintings in oils and watercolour, Patrick designed a number of publicity posters for British Railways of numerous Scottish tourist destinations including Crieff, Dunnottar Castle, Edinburgh, Loch Leven, Oban and St Andrews.
Easel in the Field: the Life of Mcintosh Patrick is available at Abe Books and Amazon. As well as the book, an auction sale catalogue was published in 1998 – Christie’s: The James McIntosh Patrick Collection – it accompanied a sale of personal effects furniture and artworks (his own and those of other artists) from his own collection.
