Far Oakridge, Gloucestershire, Patrick Swift (1927-1983), c.1956, Oil on canvas, 68 x 53cm






Patrick Swift (1927-1983), The Springs, Ashwell, 1958, Oil on board, 100.5 x 70 cm; Signed, inscribed and dated 1958-59 (verso).


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It is for his 'intensity of observation' (Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists) that Patrick Swift is perhaps best known. The present picture demonstrates this capacity extremely well. Here Swift has created a composition of typically incredible intricacy. He is visibly delighting in the organic, unwieldy forms of nature. The bare branches of the trees create a tangled visual web across the composition. They are depicted with a clarity and crispness that seems to infer the bitter cold of a wintry day; a feeling which is reinforced by the cool and controlled palette. Like the neo-romantics before him, nature itself inspired Swift, who effortlessly, it seems, translates into paint the organic and seemingly random twisting vegetative forms.

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