Close
In 1969, Pat Douthwaite was one of ten Scottish artists exhibited in New Tendencies in Scottish Art at the Richard Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh. For its exhibition catalogue he wrote: ‘In Patricia Douthwaite Scotland has an artist who has the capacity to shock and horrify in the long Northern European tradition which goes back to Grosz and the German Expressionists. Thankfully, her black humour is mingled with compassion.’ Demarco admired her shocking subject matter and emotion, and what he believed to be a type of expressionism never before seen in Scottish painting. Female Figure is a bold and dramatic example: the female with her serpentine smile appears grotesque and imperfect, which makes her all the more human.
Pat Douthwaite was born in Glasgow in 1934. She studied mime and modern dance with Margaret Morris, whose husband, J. D. Fergusson, encouraged her to paint. This important influence apart, she was self-taught. In 1958 Pat lived in Suffolk with a group of painters, including the Scots Colquhoun and MacBryde, and William Crozier. From 1959-1988 she travelled widely, to N. Africa, India, Peru, Venezuela, Europe, U.S.A., Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan, Ecuador and from 1969 lived part of the time in Majorca, and more recently in various properties across the Scottish Borders. She died in July 2002 in Broughty Ferry.
Douthwaite seems to find it necessary, like a method actress, to inhabit the idea, to get inside the skin of the role, as it were. Her paintings, often grotesque for all their elegance, can range in mood from tragicomic frenzy to angst-ridden melancholy, but they usually have a certain exciting theatricality in common. Cordelia Oliver, 1981
Gallery Director Guy Peploe knew the artist well and is the recognised expert on her work. He published a monograph on the artist in 2016.
The Scottish Gallery exhibitions: 1977, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2000 (Retrospective), 2005 (Memorial), 2011 (Retrospective – Paintings & Works on Paper), 2014, 2016, 2020 (London), 2021
Struggling to find that perfect gift? We have the solution! A Scottish Gallery Gift Voucher is the perfect gift for friends, family, customers and colleagues.
Own Art is a national initiative that makes buying contemporary art and craft affordable by providing interest-free credit for the purchase of original work.
