Ambrose
Patterson
His Life & Art
The first authoritative monograph on the significant Australian-American modernist — from bohemian Paris at the fin de siècle to the Pacific Northwest, tracing a life lived entirely in paint.
By Jane Alexander · ISBN 978-0-6467-3365-4
The Artist
A protégé of Nellie Melba, a peer of Matisse — and one of the most overlooked figures in Australian modernism.
The life and work of painter, printmaker and teacher Ambrose Patterson is ripe for the telling. A protégé of diva Nellie Melba at the fin de siècle, and substantially French academy trained, the young Australian artist was ensconced in bohemian Paris during one of its most significant epochs.
At the first infamous Salon d'Automne in 1903 he exhibited alongside Matisse, Bonnard and Rouault, and in the 1905 salon he was in the thick of it when the Fauves burst onto the scene. Influenced by the first-generation French Impressionists, Patterson's critical reception was extraordinary — distinguishing him from most of his contemporaries.
By 1916 he had moved to Hawaii, San Francisco and finally Seattle, where he became the Pacific Northwest's first modernist link to Europe. Seldom predictable, perpetually curious, he tried murals, Cubism, Abstraction — and in his last years returned full circle to Impressionism, producing remarkable paintings of light-filled studio interiors and still lifes.
Career Timeline
The Book
A high-quality hard-cover monograph richly illustrated and painstakingly researched — the first authoritative reference on Ambrose Patterson.
Represented in more than twenty public galleries and museums around the world, Patterson has never been the subject of a comprehensive reference — until now. With unfettered access to family archives and thousands of primary sources, this scholarly publication draws extensively upon myriad institutional archives. A must-have for collectors, researchers and critics.
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