Saturday, September 18, 2010

BEAUTY: Painting--Patrick Procktor

A painter of great renown in the 60s, friend to David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Cecil Beaton, and Derek Jarman, Patrick Procktor died in 2003 at the age of 67, virtually unknown and penniless; he painted the glorious “The Guardian Readers” in shades of blue which was used for the cover of the Elton John album, “Blue Moves.”

Above: Procktor in St. Tropez, 1968

UPDATE: I have been contacted by Ian Massey, Subject Leader in Communication Arts and Design at Huddersfield University in Yorkshire, England, to tell me of his just-published book "Patrick Procktor: Art and Life" from Unicorn Press. It seems like a marvelous study of Procktor's life and work. Read about the book here and read a review from the Spectator Book Club here. His book is available from Amazon.

15 comments:

IAN said...

Good to see your interest in Patrick Procktor. Hope you might also read my recently published book on Procktor, 'Patrick Procktor: Art and Life', published by Unicorn Press. It is based on interviews with many of Procktor's friends and contemporaries (Hockney, Celia Birtwell, Lord Snowdon, etc, etc) and on archival material, including private correspondence. It is profusely illustrated with examples of the artist's work and with documentary photographs.
Best wishes
Ian Massey

Anonymous said...

Do you know where the original of "The Guardian Readers" is located?, who owns it?, is it in a gallery?
Thanks for any info you can share.

Jeff said...

Dear Anonymous,

Unfortunately i have no information about the location of "The Guardian Readers" but I bet the author of the Patrick Procktor book, Ian Massey would know. Google his name and "Huddersfield" to get his email address. Good luck!

IAN said...

Hello there - I think the work may be in the private collection of Elton John, who has a number of works by Procktor in his collection.
Best wishes
Ian Massey

Jeff said...

Mr. Massey,

Good to hear from you! Thank you for the information. It only makes sense that Sir Elton would own it, not only because of the album cover, but also because I am aware that he is a very active art collector.

Thanks again!

IAN said...

Hello Geoff
Good to hear from you too! I'm not 100% sure that EJ has the painting, but do know it's in a private collection. So if your correspondent was hoping to see it in a gallery or museum I'm afraid he won't be able to. I'm currently working on a long text for a book on the artist Keith Vaughan by the way, which I hope will be published next year.
Thanks for including me on your wonderfully rich and diverse blog - it's an education!
Best wishes
Ian

IAN said...

Hello again Geoff - an update on Patrick Procktor. I recently visited a collector in the UK who has a watercolour from the same series of works as that of the painting on the cover of Elton John's 'Blue Moves' album. It's a lovely watercolour, and the owner has agreed to loan it for an exhibition of Procktor's work I am curating for Huddersfield Art Gallery, due 25 August to 25 November 2012.
I will update you again nearer the time.
Hope all is well, and all the best
Ian

Anonymous said...

I met Patrick in 1983. I was a young art student from Melbourne. I had written a fan letter to him and he was gracious enough to invite me to his house in Manchester Street. It was summer and he fanned himself with an enormous decorated fan and poured endless cups of tea. He was a charming man and will be greatly missed.

Steve Cox

Jeff said...

Steve,

What a charming story! And how special that you got to spend some time with him. Thank you so much for sharing.

Best,
JEF

IAN said...

Yes, thanks for sharing this memory Steve.

I never met Patrick, but know from interviewing many people who did during my researches for my book about him that he was often immensely generous and charming. That said, he could also be quite cutting when the mood took him!
An undervalued artist still I think.

Best wishes

Ian Massey

Jeff said...

I think it is fascinating that this post about Patrick Procktor has generated more comments than any other post on my blog!

Thanks Ian, for the updates. And do let me know when your Keith Vaughan book is coming. I am planning on doing a post about his work sometime soon.

IAN said...

Hello Jeff

Thanks. The Vaughan book is due in the Spring. Will certainly update you on that front. Next year is his centenary year (born 1912), and there will be a number of exhibitions in the UK.

All the best

Ian

IAN said...

Hello again Jeff - I'm back!

You may know already about the new biography of Hockney by Christopher Simon Sykes. Patrick Procktor features quite a lot in it, and in fact there are 3 quotes from my book on PP within it. The biography goes up to 1975, with a second volume to follow apparently.
Here it is on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Hockney-Chistopher-Sykes/dp/1846057094/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322302387&sr=8-2

All the best
Ian

Anonymous said...

Hello again Jeff
Hope all is well.
My book on Keith Vaughan is due in September. It's a collaboration with the art dealer and Vaughan expert Anthony Hepworth. My contribution is long essay on Vaughan entitled 'Walled Gardens'. You can see the book on this link: http://sansomandcompany.co.uk/shopping/keith-vaughan-the-mature-oils-1946-1977/
OUT magazine are to print a feature on Vaughan in their September issue.
All the best - Ian

IAN MASSEY said...

Hello again Jeff

Hope all is well. An update on Patrick Procktor - the show at Huddersfield Art Gallery, Yorkshire, is getting good feedback and good reviews. It's been extended from its original closing date of 10 November to 1 December 2012. There's also a film about the show on this link - http://art.yorkshire.com/artists/patrick-procktor

All best wishes

Ian