Guy Peploe, who knew the artist well, has used much primary source material and the fruits of many interviews with her friends and contemporaries to tell the story of Pat Douthwaite’s colourful life. There are many works illustrated for the first time and extensive use of photographs and archival material to do justice to an extraordinary artist who made a unique contribution to Scottish art and whose life, relationships and above all creative energy can perhaps only now be properly assessed more than fourteen years after her death.
Douglas Hall, the first Keeper of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art wrote in 2000: ‘I like to remember Douthwaite as a young woman full of mixed diffidence and hope, embarking on a voyage that was to come near to shipwreck many times. Those of us who came into contact with her, though we may often have had to suck our fingers, have some responsibility along with Douthwaite herself for the fact that she has not had proper recognition of her status as a painter of distinction. On the other hand she would then be like several others. As it is she is unique.’
Signed copies available