James Paterson Museum Archive (museum collection : 1818-2002 : Moniaive, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland)

James Paterson was born into a prosperous Glasgow textile family in an era when being an artist was frowned on. Whilst working, he went to study in the early hours of the morning at the Glasgow School of Art, where he was tutored by A D Robertson, one of Glasgow's finest watercolour teachers. James spent all his spare time sketching and in 1876 at the age of 22 years, he set off to Paris with an allowance from his father, to study in the Ateliers of Jacquesson de la Chevreuse and Jean Paul Laurens.

In 1879, James made his first visit to the village of Moniaive in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, where he found the landscape appealing and where he painted 'en plein air' as in France. He was so taken by the countryside that after his marriage to Eliza Ferguson in 1884, he set up home in a cottage gifted as a wedding present by his parents. James spent over 22 years in the area painting in the Nithsdale and Ayrshire hills, the Solway Firth and the local river and burns, capturing the elusive colours and light inherent in the Scottish countryside. During this period he formed friendships with a group of artists - Sir James Guthrie, E A Walton, W Y McGregor, E A Hornel and others - who came to be known collectively as the 'Glasgow Boys'.

...