Charles Robert Patterson was born in England in 1878 to a family of shipbuilders. Maritime history expert, Karl Kortum, wrote of Patterson’s life:

“He indentured, as a lad, in the British four-masted bark KENTMERE and served his full-time (four years) on voyaging around the world. Next he joined the British full-rigged ship ALEXANDRA (better known to maritime historians later as the CLAVERDON) and ran away from her in Newcastle, New South Wales; he was sailing before the mast. In Newcastle, he joined the four-masted bark HAWAIIAN ISLES and came up with coal to the Golden Gate. He must have entered the Golden Gate in 1896 because he told marine artist Oswald Brett that he witnessed, upon his arrival, the tragic capsizing an anchor of the full-rigged ship BLAIRMORE in Mission Bay.” Later, “Patterson made a Voyage to Australia from the Pacific Northwest in the well-known West Coast barkentine JAMES TAFT. All of his above experiences got into his paintings. There is always a slight tinge of sailors art in his technique. It would be wrong to call my crudity, but it is certainly the opposite of slickness and this is one of the reasons that he is my favorite. He is the real thing-a sailor and he was there.” (Publish in Views of the Sea. Karl Kortum, Chief Curator, National Maritime Museum, San Francisco. 1985.)

In the 1920s, Paterson settled in New York City to paint. He maintained studios at Hudson River at 72nd Street and later on the top floor of 24 West 59th Street overlooking Central Park. He was a member of the National Arts Club, American Watercolor Society, Allied Artists of America and the Salmagundi Club.

From his rich experiences at sea, he created realistic paintings of the clipper ship era, many of which were published in publications and used as book illustrations in the 1930-1950 period. He was commissioned to paint an important group of paintings for the Columbian Rope Company, New York, NY for their corporate fine art collection. (When the company closed, as hemp was displaced with nylon cording, the collection was sold through Kennedy Gallery, New York, NY and Quester Gallery, Stonington, CT.)

Other oil paintings by Patterson were purchased for the Seaman’s Bank for Savings, New York, NY collection and he was painted two impressive murals commissioned for Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.

He died on November 9, 1958 in New York City.

Paintings by Charles Robert Patterson are represented in numerous important private and museum collections, including (partial list): Butler Institute of American Art (OH), Detroit Historical Museum (MI), Los Angeles Art Association (CA), Minnesota Maritime Museum (MN), Mystic Seaport Museum (CT), Museum of Fine Arts (MA), Peabody Essex Museum (MA), the U.S. Navy Museum, (Washington, DC), the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (MD).

A one-man exhibition was held in 2006 at the Heritage Museum and Gardens Art Museum in Sandwich, MA: “Saving Our Ships - Paintings of Charles Robert Patterson”.

Sources:

Brewington, Dorothy E.R. Dictionary of Marine Artists. Mystic, CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1982.

Cutler, Carl. Greyhounds of the Sea. New York: Halcyon House, 1930.

"Saving Our Ships", Antiques and the Arts Weekly, May 5, 2006, p. 5.

Views of the Sea: Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Southampton, England: Chichester Press LTD, 1985.

Submitted by Ann Marenakos, ASA

Born in England to a family of shipbuilders, Charles Robert Patterson became known for his oil and watercolor marine paintings, often ships sailing on turbulent seas depicted in highly accurate historical detail. Other subjects were modern warships and yachts. His painting abilities combined with his life adventures, as he went to sea by age 13, sailed the seven seas aboard many kinds of vessels, and rounded Cape Horn four times.

In the 1920s, he settled in New York City in order to focus on his art career. He became a member of the National Arts Club, American Watercolor Society, and Allied Artists of America.
In addition to painting, he did lithographic prints and photographs, and during the 1930s, he did two mural paintings for Memorial Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

In May, 2006, the Heritage Museums & Gardens Art Museum of Sandwich, Massachusetts opened a solo exhibition of his work titled "Saving our Ships: The Sea Paintings of Charles Robert Patterson". The exhibit is an examination of Patterson's career as a merchant seaman, newspaper and magazine illustrator, photographer and painter.


Sources include:
"Saving Our Ships", Antiques and the Arts Weekly, May 5, 2006, p. 5
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art, p. 2537