Still Life at Patti’s, 2016

Joan Renton was a distinguished painter whose long career embodied the enduring values of the Edinburgh School: close observation, compositional restraint and a profound engagement with the poetry of everyday life. Born in Sunderland, County Durham, she moved to Edinburgh to study at Edinburgh College of Art from 1953–58, where she was taught by William Gillies, John Maxwell and William MacTaggart. The influence of this remarkable generation of teachers remained visible throughout her career in her measured handling of colour, her disciplined compositions and her belief in painting as a lifelong vocation.