An innovative Irish artist Patrick Scott was an architect and a designer. But perhaps most of all, he was an innovator. One of Ireland’s first abstract artists, he consistently pushed boundaries over the course of his 75-year long career.
Patrick Scott was born in 1921 in Kilbrittain, West Cork, to a farming family near the sea, a pivotal influence on his artistic development. He credited the expansive blue horizon as his initial inspiration to paint.
Financial Struggles
During the 1930s, Scott’s family faced financial struggles until Aunt Linda sponsored his education at private schools in Dublin. At St. Columba’s College, Scott and peers painted under a dedicated teacher, fostering his self-taught approach to art.
Upon finishing school, Scott planned to study architecture in London, but the outbreak of World War II abruptly altered his plans when Hitler’s invasion of Poland prompted Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Consequently, Scott’s London adventures were canceled just days before he was set to depart Ireland.
Student Days in Dublin
Aunt Linda came to the rescue. She provided Scott with enough money to support himself for a number of years and told him to go to Dublin and educate himself. He went to UCD to study architecture, later recalling that it was a decision he felt compelled to make; artist was not an acceptable career choice in 1940s Ireland.
Evening Landscape by Patrick Scott, 1944, Oil on canvas, 70 x 93 cm, Collection Simon & Sianne Walker.
It was during his student days that Scott became involved with The White Stag Group, a collective of British artists who came to Ireland to escape the war. This group of experimental artists promoted Modernism and the subjective experience.
Modernism was a style of art that developed after the industrial revolution. It reflected a move away from the traditional system whereby works of art were commissioned by wealthy patrons. Bigger cities, faster travel and new ideas – like Freud’s theory of the subconscious – broadened horizons and opened minds. Artists began to experiment with self expression, independently of patrons who had previously dictated artistic trends.
In 1940, Scott stumbled upon an exhibition in Dublin by the White Stag Group. He later said, “when I met the White Stag Group, I knew that I wanted to find something in artistic terms, but I was not sure what. I was delighted with what they gave me.” He became involved with the group, who were an important influence in his early career, introducing him to abstract art.
Modernism was slow to take off in Ireland. In today’s Ireland, we can look at a Patrick Scott painting and appreciate its simple beauty. But to really appreciate Scott as an innovator, we must try to place ourselves in the Ireland of the 1940s and 1950s.
Culture Clash
It was a conservative time in Ireland. Memories of the struggle for independence and the civil war were still fresh, plus the Catholic Church held a firm grip over its flock. In such a society, even cultural expression wasn’t free; it tapped into a traditional and very Irish sense of identity. There was little appreciation for a more contemporary style.
Scott’s early works, produced during this time, showcase his developing style. His paintings didn’t reproduce scenes precisely as they appeared; instead they reflected his own interpretation of the world. For instance, one of his earliest works, Evening Landscape, takes a bird’s eye view with just a simple line for the horizon. Interestingly, Scott’s lifelong interest in the circle is seen even in this early piece.
Wires of the Lagoon by Patrick Scott, 1957, Oil on canvas, 63.5 x 76 cm, Private Collection
During the 1950s, Scott’s style matured. We can see his passion for patterns in Wet Day and the influence of his architectural training in Wires of the Lagoon. His simple style gave viewers space to make their own interpretations. In 1950s Ireland, his work was not well comprehended – one newspaper characterized his Deserted Racecourse artwork as “a collection of vertical and horizontal lines”.
Recognition may have been lacking at home, but things were different on the international stage. In 1958, Scott was put forward for the Guggenheim International Award. This led to the prestigious Museum of Modern Art in New York purchasing Scott’s Woman Carrying Grasses.
Even this was not enough to impress the home crowd, however. That same year, the Keeper of the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery recommended that the museum purchase a similar piece called Girl Carrying Grasses. There was controversy when Belfast city council members claimed that acquiring the painting would amount to “robbing the ratepayers” and ultimately, the painting remained unsold.
Girl Carrying Grasses by Patrick Scott, 1958, Oil on canvas, 183 x 122 cm, Private Collection.
Recognition Grows
During the 1950s, Scott also worked as an architect and designer in the practice of Michael Scott, a prominent Dublin architect won contracts to design buildings for CIÉ. Patrick Scott’s most significant architectural contribution was his involvement in the design of the Busáras building.
In 1953 Michael Scott established Signa Design Consultancy to offer clients access to a range of design expertise. Patrick Scott was part of this venture, designing posters, record sleeves, book jackets, Christmas cards, Grafton Street’s Christmas decorations and even the colour scheme for CIÉ’s trains. The iconic black, orange and white design was inspired by the colour of Scott’s cat, Miss Mouse.
At the 1960 Guggenheim Awards, Scott won the national prize for Ireland with Bog Grasses. It was this award that allowed him to give up his job as an architect and designer. He bought a house in Ballsbridge, Dublin and became a full-time artist.
Thankfully, the 1960s saw Scott finally earn some recognition at home. This happened in tandem with Ireland’s transition from an inward-looking country to a nation seeking to take its place in the world. He received his first solo Irish exhibition at Dublin’s Dawson Gallery in 1961 despite of backdrops.
Big Solar Device (Large Solar Device) by Patrick Scott, 1964,
Tempera on unprimed canvas, 234 x 153 cm, Collection Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.
Open to Interpretation
During the early 1960s, Scott introduced a series of paintings which he called Device. His motivation for creating these works stemmed from his unhappiness with the atomic bomb tests, referred to as devices. In 1964, Scott presented the piece he is most renowned for: the inaugural artwork in his Gold painting series.
The idea for these paintings originally originated from a surplus of gold leaf from a design project, prompting Scott to search for an appropriate technique to adhere it to the canvas. A colleague suggested using acrylic paints rather than oil, and Scott found this effective. He applied layers of gold paint to build up the effect he wanted.
Some observers view Scott’s Gold painting series as reflecting his fascination with Zen due to their tranquil and uncluttered atmosphere. We’ll never know for sure, as he was famously reluctant to explain his work and intolerant of art jargon. In an interview with the Irish Times a year before his death, he simply explained his use of gold leaf by saying, “I liked the look of it.”… I’m very bad at talking about all that.”
Involving the Spectator
Scott might hesitate to explain his work to encourage viewers to become active participants and interpreters. He further promoted this by creating paintings on four separate canvases, allowing owners to rearrange them.
This idea of the spectator as a participant in the artwork, completely new to Ireland at the time, was another example of Scott’s knack for innovation. Some commentators saw this move as an early example of interactive art – a movement, popular in recent years, where spectators become part of the artwork by walking around the installation.
Scott has given some small explanations in his time, however. Regarding his love of the circle, he said that if he walks into an empty room in a strange place, he feels an urge to draw a circle on the wall, and that somehow transforms the space. A note displayed in his studio stated, “The circle represents fulfillment.”
Gold Painting 57 by Patrick Scott in 1968
Gold leaf and tempera on unprimed canvas, Collection Christopher Fitzsimon
Later Work
Patrick Scott went on to produce further series of paintings, including Pyre and Object. But he also had his fingers in other pies. He served on the board of the Kilkenny Design Workshops from 1969 to 1987. Established in 1965, the purpose of the workshops was to improve the standard of design in Ireland. Scott’s work for Kilkenny Design conducted talent hunting expeditions, designed limited-edition silk screen prints, and created a series of Rainbow Rugs.
His interest in Zen culture and philosophy eventually led him to visit the Far East in the 1980s. He subsequently produced landscape paintings inspired by the trip, such as Fuji Moonlight and the beautiful Zen Garden, Japan.
Scott continued to push the boundaries of convention, even in his later years. During the 2002 exhibition of his work by the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, he suggested that painting the walls would make the displays more interesting. The gallery agreed and he had the walls painted in “blue, green and bullock’s blood”.
Scott was made a Saoi (sage) of Aosdána in 2007, which is a group that represents creative artists in Ireland. Members of Aosdána select artists based on their outstanding and long-lasting impact on the arts to bestow this esteemed title upon them.
Patrick Scott continued to work right up to his death at the grand old age of 93 in 2014. He died on the eve of the opening of a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. The museum is home to a collection of Scott’s paintings.
Many thanks to Eric Pearce and the Irish Museum of Modern Art for permission to use the images in this article. All images are © the artist’s estate.
