‘I have to get outside to paint landscapes.
Outside, I am exposed to the same elements as my subject…
the wind that shakes the twig shakes my outstretched arm…
we both get wet or scorched by the sun.
Outside there is no cool appraisal,
you just have to get on with it as best you can.
Always in haste to catch the dream, there is no time to lose.’
[Patrick George, 2003]
Browse & Darby are honoured to present this commemorative exhibition of work by the late British painter, Patrick George (1923 – 2016).
This will be his ninth solo show with the gallery and will present over sixty paintings and drawings covering a distinguished career lasting some seventy years. The exhibition will focus on a collection of landscapes and drawings depicting the Suffolk surroundings of his home in for which he is best remembered today. In addition, there will be several examples of George’s still life work and portraiture.
George was a much loved painter, deeply respected by his peers and by those fortunate enough to receive his guidance whilst studying at the Slade School of Art in London where he taught for forty years and served as Director until 1988. Continuing in a painted tradition forged by the likes of Gainsborough and Constable, George’s work stands as a unique contribution to the development of contemporary landscape painting.
As Frank Auerbach so aptly put it, George’s work is ‘both responsive and cohesive, it has the tension of a tightrope walker. I find it engrossing and admirable’ (Andrew Lambirth, Patrick George, Sansom & Co., 2014). This show will commemorate his special legacy to British art history.
