The Freshening Gale, (oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inches, 1913) By 19 13, Patterson had mastered the skills that would characterize most of his paintings, among them attention to detail and accuracy in the sea and on deck, plenty ofsea room, and a second vessel to mark the horizon line. achieved some early success painting cows and other lives tock. H e no doubt studi ed animals on his grandfa ther's fa rm , and his ability to capture their likenesses led to a job as cover artist fo r 7he Country Gentleman, a progress ive agri cultural magazin e published in Phil adelphia by rhe C urtis Publishing Company, owners of 7he Saturday Evening Post. Patte rso n had m oved to Phil adelphi a late in 1911 o r early 19 12. H e haunted the waterfro nt and soon ea rn ed a co mmissio n fo r a large painting of the fo urmas ted barque Jo hn Ena. Thar paintin g, titl ed 7he Freshening Gale, and ano th er large canvas, Furling the Fore Topsail, see m to be the first full- scale evocatio ns of hi s mature style. In 7he Freshening Gale, Patterson ado pted a gann et's-eye view, lookin g down as the barque plows into heavy seas. H e wo rked th e composition in rhe pano ramic style he preferred, placin g j ohn Ena off-center to rhe left, emph asizing the lo nely immensity of deep wa ter sailing. The painting has been cut down, but a ship, hull -down in the distance, ori ginally defin ed the ho ri zo n and reinforced the enormi ty of th e scene. Patterso n had photographs of th ese paintings and o th ers when he arrived in New Yo rk C ity in 1919. H e took them to show Felix Ri esenberg in his editorial offi ce at 7he National Marine magazine, and Captain Riese nberg was thrilled by what he saw. Like Patterson , he, too, knew deep water. H e was graduated from the New
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Yo rk N autical School, and later fro m Columbia Uni ve rsity, and had ro unded the Horn as a junior officer in the Downeas ter A.] Fuller in 1898. Their meeti ng wo uld have a profo und effect o n bo th men; Patte rson sough t someo ne to champio n his arr, and Riesenberg wa nted an attractive mo uthpiece thro ugh whom he could promote his goal of reviving the Am eri can merchanr m arine. Riesenberg soon published the paint, er's autobiographi cal reminiscences. Seri alized in fo ur issues, "Ships" gave Patterso n a fo rum fo r recalling his yo uth at sea and set the fo undation fo r his repu tatio n as the "Sailor-Painter." Riesenberg surely acce pted the manuscript at face-val ue, yet
"Ships" made Patterso n more of a seam an than ever he was by docum enting at least rwo fa bri cated voyages. Perh aps Pat terso n meant to co nvince readers th at he "kn ew his boo k," but he possessed so mu ch legitimate sea-time that the subterfuge was unneccessary. Mo re likely, the unsubstantiated passages cloaked yea rs rhat Patterso n no lo nger wished to acco unt fo r; yea rs durin g which he had deserted ship, separated from his family, and perhaps slipped into the country without emigrating. If so, th en he covered his offenses by sending him self back to sea. None of that wo uld have mattered to rhose who saw his remarkable paintings. Following rwo modest showings in H alifax in 192 1 and important exhibitio ns in M anhattan ar the Seam en's C hurch Insrirure and rhe Natio nal Arts C lub rhe fo llowing year, he moved rapidly to rhe to p of his profession. H e earn ed o ne-m an shows ar Doll & Richards' prestigio us gallery in Boston and o th ers at Arthur H arlow's in N ew Yo rk, where his larges t wo rks commanded a th ousa nd dollars and more. H e portrayed every type of sailin g vessel: clippers, D owneasters, Atlantic packers, fi shing and coasting schoo ners, sailing wa rships and yachts. His pain tings represented rhem from every vantage-bow-o n views, stern-quarterin g views, o r heeling ro meer Cape H orn seas ro llin g across the deck. His chall enging "to-weather"
(opposite, right) Destroyer Reid, Fleet Maneuvers in Heavy Weather, (oil on canvas, 3 0 x 5 0 inches, circa 1927)
Painting a proper sea was Patterson's ultimate challenge. H is ability to paint deep water is nowhere clearer than in this painting of the four-stacker struggling to keep up with the fleet. H e created it after observing naval maneuvers in the Gulf of Gonave, near Haiti, in 1927. (left) Charles Robert Patterson with a camera [detail ofphotograph], circa 1915. Patterson seems to have p osed for several publicity shots, probably in Philadelphia. 7his one shows him as the nattily-dressed and eminently confident artist, even though his success lay several years in fron t of him.
SEA HISTORY 114, SPRING 2006