Highwater

Patterson--Highwater.jpg
PattersonClaude - Highwater.JPG
Patterson Highwater--cropped.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

Description

Given its light greens and the implied blossoms of field flowers, Patterson’s landscape may be set during springtime, in which case the lake pictured here still would be filled with meltwater. His fresh, pastel-shaded scene celebrates nature with any traces of the human carefully cropped out of visible range.

About the Artist
: Born in Monmouth, IL, Patterson’s practice of art required entrepreneurship throughout his life. The son of a printer, he financed his study at Monmouth College by working summers on the railroad in nearby Des Moines, the in 1913 he teaching art lessons (Des Moines Register 15 July 1913: 9). He went on to receive further training at the Cummings School of Art (University of Iowa), the Philadelphia School of Design, and a masters in fine arts at Harvard University. At the same time, however, he continued to teach at far-flung locations: the Cummings School (Iowa), Northern State Teachers College (South Dakota), Tulane University, and at the Universities of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin (Des Moines Register 13 Sept. 1925: 10). His professional life, in other words, was contingent; alongside notices of his teaching posts are mentions of threatened cuts to art programs. His NDG paintings most likely date to a period when he lived in New York for about a decade, perhaps teaching at Columbia University. For most of his life Patterson’s horizon remained regional; he often won prizes at the Iowa Art Salon—where he exhibited for 25 consecutive years—and the Des Moines Womens Club exhibitions.

Creator

Patterson, Claude A[llan], 1887-1973

Publisher

Date

Contributor

Source

Format

Type

Identifier

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Oil painting

Physical Dimensions

16 x 20 in.
Condition: surface dirt

Geolocation