Orioles

PattersonClaude - Orioles.JPG

Dublin Core

Title

Description

This group of individuals from the blackbird family each perches on a distinct branch, looking in a different direction, and in physical space likely at some distance from the others. Yet Patterson telescopes his composition so as to render them tightly clustered together. The birds are framed by the branches and flowers of what is apparently a cherry tree, blossoming in early spring to perhaps welcome them back.

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

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Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Watercolor painting

Physical Dimensions

Condition: surface dirt, some spots, slightly buckled

Geolocation