“I’m inspired by natural beauty and harmony, I love to paint.” – Rudi Patterson

Leighton House Museum presents the first major retrospective of one of the UK’s leading black artists, Jamaican born Rudi Patterson (1933 – 2013). Featuring many previously unexhibited works from the artist’s private collection this unique showing explores Rudi Patterson’s unique legacy. From his mid twenties Rudi lived in England, latterly in a series of West London council flats. From these eyries Rudi composed hundreds of evocations of mostly Caribbean scenes. Vivid montane landscapes, plantation villages , luxuriant tropical vegetation and crops, beaches with rivers flowing onto them… all somehow visualised from the urban jungle of West London, specifically the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The exhibition will be opened by BBC presenter Moira Stuart, who knew Rudi Patterson.

In early life Rudi Patterson was a successful international model and actor. Leighton House has collaborated with the Black Cultural Archives in Lambeth to tell the fascinating story of this cross cultural figure – painter, potter, thespian.

Patterson’s prolific output is testament to his tremendous creativity and interest in experimentation. He was self-taught and this Leighton House Museum exhibition focuses on Patterson’s landscapes and features works in gouache, watercolours and oils, although Patterson also painted abstract and linear works, as well as creating many ceramic and mixed media pieces. Working in an ‘intuitive’ style, Patterson’s landscapes are notable for their potent use of colour. Mostly painted in three council flats where Patterson lived, in Finborough Road, Hesketh Place and the Ernő Goldfinger designed block adjacent to the Trellick Tower, the landscapes reflect the tropical vistas of St Thomas in the lea of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, around Patterson’s birthplace in the sugar plantation village of Duckenfield. Patterson made his view of Notting Hill seem Caribbean by placing hibiscus flowers in the foreground.

Rudi Patterson’s works have been widely exhibited all over the world since his first London show in 1970, including many one man exhibitions in London ,and from Ocho Rios , Jamaica to Melbourne , as well as group shows in New York, Europe and the Middle East . Most of the paintings exhibited at Leighton House, however were found at Patterson’s flat following his death from cancer in 2013, are shown courtesy of his Estate and consequently have never been shown in public before.

Patterson arrived in West London as one of the post Windrush immigrants to Britain from Jamaica in the 1950s- his first ambition was to perform on stage rather than on canvas . As part of the explosion of Caribbean culture in West London, which gave birth to the Notting Hill Carnival, Patterson became a well known figure on the London scene in the 60s and 70s. As a talented stage and screen actor, Patterson appeared in early editions of Z Cars, The Professionals and in Two A Penny opposite Cliff Richard as well as appearing in the Rolling Stones documentary film Sympathy For The Devil. He worked and modelled for Mr Fish and was a frontman for a British Airways advertising campaign – groundbreaking for a black model of that era.

His theatre credits include travelling in rep with the groundbreaking gay-themed The Boys In The Band, appearing in the world premiere of Michael Tippett’s opera The Ice Break. In the States he was friends with Ashford and Simpson, Maya Angelou , back home he was a regular at Freddie Mercury’s parties. Freddie had a collection o f his work and Rudi’s paintings were collected by a number of other high profile celebrities including Andy Williams, Twiggy and Stevie Wonder, as well as by Jamaican dignitaries. But really he was happiest just to see his paintings on the walls of his friends, his ceramics on their tables.

His dynamic personality is evident in his vividly colourful works, although his true potential as an artist was seemingly unlocked through personal adversity. After breaking his neck in a water-skiing accident in the early 70s Patterson was confined to bed for months of convalescence, during which he painted incessantly. He learnt to walk again and became a prolific artist.

The exhibition is co-curated by the broadcaster, journalist and horticulturalist Wesley Kerr (who is also the co-executor of Rudi’s estate), and by Novelette-Aldoni Stewart, the conservator and cultural activist who documented the Rudi Patterson collection after his death, initially as a volunteer for the Black Cultural Archives, which is also lending photos, press cuttings and Rudi Patterson’s easel, all generously gifted by Patterson’s son, Orville ‘Junior’ Patterson.

Wesley Kerr said “Rudi had an intensely powerful visual memory and sorting out the immense amount of work he left behind has thrown new light on his life, his great skill and the evolution of his oeuvre. For this exhibition we are rightly focusing on his landscapes. There’s no doubt that like all true artists he forged his own style and his best work is touched by genius, especially his instinctive use of colour and his powerful evocation of place.”

Novellette-Aldoni Stewart said “When asked to document and assess the condition of Rudi Patterson’s work, I initially became involved because of his reputation as a painter amongst people within the diaspora and because it was an opportunity to chronicle the work of a Black artist and his contribution to the contemporary art scene. Viewing his body of work, his use of imagery and colours and his progression as a painter over four decades, I soon saw that Rudi had meticulously crafted and honed a remarkable style. He created an enchanting dialogue between his roots and the society in which he lived."

Daniel Robbins, Senior Curator of Leighton House Museum said “The experience of walking into Rudi's flat not long after his death and being confronted by evidence of such a vibrant and productive talent was both moving and exciting. The work demanded to be shared with a wider audience and I am delighted that Leighton House has this opportunity; presenting the story of Rudi's extraordinary life and work and celebrating the part that Caribbean culture continues to play in the life of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and beyond.”