PATERSON, John Ford (1851-1912)

artist

was born at Dundee, Scotland, in 1851. He attended the Royal Scottish Academy schools at Edinburgh and began exhibiting at its exhibitions while still in his teens. He went to Melbourne in 1872, stayed three years, and then returned to Scotland. He came to Melbourne again in 1884 and gradually established a reputation as a landscape painter. His work was included in collections of Australian art sent to London in 1886 and 1898, and attracted favourable notice from R. A. M. Stevenson and other critics. In 1902 he was elected president of the Victorian Artists' Society, and in the same year was appointed a trustee of the public library, museums and national gallery of Victoria. He held this position until his death on 30 June 1912. He never married. A nephew, Louis Esson, became well-known as a poet and dramatist and a niece, Esther Paterson, as a painter.

Paterson was short in stature, quiet in manner, thoughtful and kindly. He was purely a landscape painter, with a beautiful understanding of the Australian countryside, a delicate sense of colour, sound drawing, and poetical feeling. He was not a prolific painter and was never a popular one, but he ranks among the more important artists working in Australia about the end of the nineteenth century. He is represented at the national galleries at Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane and at the Bendigo gallery.

The Argus, Melbourne, 1 July 1912; W. Moore, The Story of Australian Art; The Age, Melbourne, 24 September 1932; personal knowledge.