Patrick Swift (1927-1983) The Springs, Ashwell Oil on board, 100.5 x 70 cm. (39 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.) Signed, inscribed and dated 1958-59 (verso) Provenance: Private Collection, U.K. Ashwell...

Patrick Swift (1927-1983) The Springs, Ashwell Oil on board, 100.5 x 70 cm. (39 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.) Signed, inscribed and dated 1958-59 (verso) Provenance: Private Collection, U.K. Ashwell Springs are found in the village of Ashwell in North Hertfordshire, and they are one of the sources of the river Cam. Swift came to Ashwell in 1958, the year of the present work, through the visionary educator Henry Morris (1889-1961). Morris had set up the Digswell Arts Trust in 1957, having persuaded the government and Welwyn Garden City development to restore a run down Regency mansion along with its cottages and outbuildings and convert them into accommodation for artists and their families. The first artists arrived in 1957, and Swift took up residency a year later. Among other artists to have been included in the programme at Digswell were Michael Andrews, Hans Coper and Ralph Brown. During his residency at Digswell, Swift painted many views of Ashwell and its Spring, one of which was presented by Henry Morris to Melbourn Village College at its opening in 1959. Having trained at the National College of Art in Dublin from 1946-8, and furthered his experience and learning through his travels to London and Paris, Swift arrived at Digswell already having made his mark as an artist. He exhibited at the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in both 1950 and 1954, and was given his first one man show in 1952 at the Victor Waddington Galleries, Dublin. After Digswell, Swift moved to London in 1959 where he met and became friends with leading lights in the art world such as Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach and John Minton. In the same year, the date of the present work, he set up the art quarterly 'X' along with David Wright, for which he wrote many articles under the pseudonym James Mahon. In 1962 Swift moved to Portugal, where he stayed for the remainder of his life, successfully combining his dual interests of art and writing. It is for his 'intensity of observation' (Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists, Dublin, 2002, p.640) that Patrick Swift is perhaps best known. The present lot, The Springs, Ashwell 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. It is not just his technical ability as an artist, but also his talent in creating intricate and complicated compositions that sets Swift firmly in a league of his own.

View more View less