Patrick Scott HRHA (1921-2014) Gold Painting 486 Tempera, gold leaf and silver leaf on canvas, 122 x 122cm (48 x 48) Signed and inscribed verso Although aspects of Japanese and Chinese culture had long been important to Patrick Scott, he did not travel to the Orient until 1984. His admiration for the Japanese flag was well known. Its elegant simplicity was characteristic of his own design aesthetic and, as he once put it: “When I sit down to work, I usually draw a circle.” In the 1950s, his friendship with the American painter Morris Graves, who lived in Ireland for a time, focussed his interest in the East and chimed with his instinct for Zen-like clarity. ? When he finally ventured East, the spur was his involvement with Kilkenny Design Workshops, who were considering the possibility of taking on Chinese gold-smithing apprentices. His time in China and Japan was immensely rewarding, not least in enhancing his interest in landscape. Most obviously, he devised his own distinctive take on the dramatic limestone mountains around Guilin, a timeless source of fascination for Chinese artists. In fact, the Chinese term for landscape painting, “shan shui hua”, translates as something like “mountain water painting”. ?Less obviously, the impact of his travels is evident in this work. In the late 1970s he had begun, very fruitfully, to explore the use of triangular or wedge-shaped forms rather than circles, and here he combines this hard geometry with the spirit of landscape. The three angled incursions into the textured linen, grounded by a single horizontal line, animate diagonal energies and subtly suggest layers of masses (perhaps mountains) and reflections, all with the most minimal means. ?Born in Kilbritten, Co Cork, Scott initially studied architecture and worked for the groundbreaking modernist practice of Michael Scott, branching out over time into many aspects of design. All the while, however, he nurtured the ambition to paint full-time, an aim encouraged through his involvement with the White Stag group. By the 1960s, having gained national and international recognition, he was in a position to devote himself primarily to art. Represented by Taylor Galleries, he was the subject of many survey exhibitions and his work is included in numerous public and private collections. Aidan Dunne, April 2024