Patrick Scott: The Taylor Galleries
Patrick Scott
Tháinig Patrick Scott ar an tsaol i gCill Briotáin, Co. Chorcaigh, sa bhliain 1921. Rinne sé staidéar ar Ailtireacht i gColáiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath, ón bhliain 1939 agus d’oibrigh sé do chleachtas ailtireachta Scott Tallon Walker, a bhí lonnaithe i mBaile Átha Cliath, ó 1945 go 1960. Le linn do a bheith go fóill ar choláiste, d’éirigh sé gníomhach leis an ghrúpa ar a dtugtaí White Stag agus thosaigh sé ag taispeáint a chuid pictiúirí ina gcuideachta. Ar feadh mórán blianta, chomhcheangail sé a chuid oibre mar ailtire leis an phéintéireacht ach sa deireadh shocraigh sé díreadh ar an ealaíón go lánaimseartha i ndiaidh do ionadaíocht a dhéanamh d’Éirinn ag an Venice Biennale sa bhliain 1960.
Ó na 1940idí, séard a bhí i gcuid oibre Scott i dtús báire ná radharcanna tíre, roinnte go foirmiúil, ag taispeáint éanacha shamhailteacha agus comhshúiomhanna shimplí de radharcanna nádúrtha, péinteáilte le sraitheanna tanaí d’ábhar datha trédhearcach. Níos moille ná sin, fuair sé inspioraid ó phortaigh lár na tíre agus go luath sna 1960idí, d’aimsigh sé ceardaíócht na péintéireachta ar chanbhás neamhphrímáilte, rud a bhí sainiúil ina chuid oibre i rith a shaoil.
Bhí tionchar ag a thraenáil agus a chleachtas mar ailtire i dtús a shaoil ar a chuid oibre; na línte géara agus na foirmeacha laghdaithe d’ailtireacht uasal nua-aoiseach ag teacht i láthair athuair ar chanbhás le cur síos a dhéanamh ar an domhan nádúrtha le cruinneas anailíseach. Tá a chuid péintéireachta, líníochtaí agus priontaí teibí agus dáigh, ag driogadh timpeallacht an ealaíontóra ina dhá bhuntomhas le déine atá meáite lena úsáid iomadúil de dhuillí óir, airgid agus pallaidiam in éadán patrúin teampara caolchúiseacha geoiméadracha agus canbhás amh, go háirithe ina shraith machnamhach d’Ór-Phéintéireacht ó 1964 ar aghaidh.
Chomh maith lena shaothar féin, rinne Scott cuid mhór coimisiún deartha le linn do a bheith ag obair le Comhlacht Deartha Signa sna 1950idí agus 60idí. B’eisean a dhearaigh an rothstoc íocónach oráiste agus dubh do CIÉ (fuair sé a inspreagadh ó dhath a pheata cait, Miss Mouse), chomh maith le cairpéid, cártaí Nollag, clúdaigh taifid agus póstaeir. Lena chois sin, chuir sé i gcrích mórán coimisiún taipéise dá chuid féin do Bhanc na hÉireann, Coláiste na Tríonóide, Baile Átha Cliath, agus Parlaimint na hEorpa. Is cinnte gurb é ceann dá chuid deonachán is seasmhaí d’ailtireacht nua-aoiseach na hÉireann ná an saothar galánta mósáice i mBusáras agus fosta dhearaigh sé an móitif íocónach do ROSC.
Bhain Patrick Scott an Gradam Náisiúnta ag Taispeántas Idirnáisiúnta Guggenheim, Nua Eabhrac, sa bhliain 1960 agus fuair sé Duais Ealaíona O’Malley ón Institiúid Chultúrtha Ghael-Mheiriceánach in 2004. Bhí sé ar dhuine de bhunaitheoirí Aosdána, áit ar bronnadh an teideal Saoi air agus ar tugadh torc óir dó, comhartha an phoist, sa bhliain 2007. Bhí sé ina Bhall Oinigh de RHA, agus tá a chuid saothar i mórán bailiúchan príobháideach in Éirinn agus thar lear, chomh maith leis na bailiúcháin phoiblí den Mhúsaem d’Ealaíon Nua-aoiseach, Nua Eabhrac; Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann (IMMA), Baile Átha Cliath; Corparáid Gulf Oil, Pittsburg, SAM; Gailearaí Hugh Lane Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath; agus an Músaem Uladh, Béal Feirste. Bhí siarghabhálach mór dá shaothar le feiceáil i nGailearaí Dúghlas de hÍde, Baile Átha Cliath, sa bhliain 1981 agus rinneadh taispeántas suirbhé tábhachtach ar a shaothar i nGailearaí Hugh Lane Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath in 2002.
Fuair Patrick Scott bás sa bhaile i mBaile Átha Cliath ar an 14 Feabhra 2014, an óiche roimh a thaispeántas siarghabhálach in IMMA.
Patrick Scott
Born in Kilbrittain, Co. Cork in 1921, Patrick Scott studied Architecture at University College Dublin from 1939 and worked for the Dublin-based architectural practice Scott Tallon Walker from 1945 to 1960. While still in college he became involved with the White Stag Group and began exhibiting with them. For many years he combined his work as an architect with painting, only deciding to focus on painting full-time after he represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 1960.
Scott’s earliest work, from the 1940s, consists of formally divided landscapes depicting imaginary birds and simplified compositions of familiar scenes painted with thin layers of transparent pigment. Later work was inspired by the bogs of the Midlands and in the early 1960s he discovered the technique of painting on unprimed canvas which characterised his work throughout his life.
His work was influenced by his early training and practice as an architect, the angular lines and reductive forms of high modernist architecture reappearing on canvas to describe the natural world with an analytical precision. His paintings, drawings and prints are uncompromisingly abstract, distilling the artist’s environment into two dimensions with an austerity that is balanced by his frequent use of gold, silver and palladium leaf against subtle geometric tempera shapes and raw canvas, most notably in his meditative series of Gold Paintings dating from 1964 onwards.
In addition to his own work Scott carried out numerous design commissions while working for Signa Design Consultancy in the 1950s and 60s. He designed CIÉ’s iconic orange and black rolling stock (inspired by the colouring of his pet cat Miss Mouse) as well as carpets, Christmas cards, record sleeves and posters. He also completed numerous tapestry commissions of his own for Bank of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and the European Parliament. One of his most enduring contributions to modern Irish architecture is the beautiful mosaic work in Busáras and he also designed the iconic ROSC motif.
Patrick Scott won the National Award at the Guggenheim International Exhibition, New York in 1960 and received the Irish American Cultural Institute’s O’Malley Art Award in 2004. A founder member of Aosdána, he was conferred with the title of Saoi and presented with a gold torc, the symbol of the office, in 2007. An Honorary Member of the RHA, his work is held in numerous private collections in Ireland and abroad, as well as the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin; the Gulf Oil Corporation, Pittsburg, USA; Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; and the Ulster Museum, Belfast. The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin held a major retrospective of his work in 1981 and an important survey exhibition of his work took place at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane in 2002.