On the paintings of Patrick McArdle: 1915-1997

My first encounter with the work of the Irish-American painter Patrick McArdle was neither in a gallery 

nor from a book.  In fact, it was unpremeditated -- a moment of artistic pleasure with no heraldry from 

publicity or personal recommendation of any kind. A pianist colleague and friend had brought me along 

to an informal supper at the seaside home of a local physician, Arthur, and his wife Deirdre. Upon 

entering the dining room I was captivated immediately by a canvas above the sideboard, which didn't in 

any way seem ordinary. It was a beach scene so delightful and satisfying that I asked Deirdre who had 

painted it and where she had found it. The answer was as modest as my introduction to the painting and 

was simply this, "My father, was an oil painter." Now six years later I am quite familiar with this unusual 

master.

 

McArdle had all the credentials we expect of a fine painter and enough good critical response to engender 

some important shows.  He would have been one-hundred years old this past July.  Perhaps not yet old 

enough to be "discovered" or to finally escape the doubters and the vagaries of the Art world.  As in all 

the Arts, those with a new direction, with an experimental approach, suffer publicly from not replicating 

what has been done before.

But something makes me go back and back again to the canvases to see what  McArdle "saw" and has left 

to us for our pleasure and nostalgia -- the light and fantastic of  bathers, boaters, ball -frolicking children, 

skaters and still life paintings which hardly remain still.  Obviously influenced by Matisse and Avery and 

with a generational colleague like Stephen Pace, McArdle is not just a copy of these artists, but goes forth 

with something very much his own. Detractors might comment on what may be misunderstood as 

“indefiniteness” on the canvas: he was a pioneer in leaving some of the background unpainted – but 

purposely, adding to the spontaneity of his approach.  Much like a great actor or musician, he was so 

certain about expressing “uncertainty” or “chance – certain of an uncertain canvas, an important part of 

the vocabulary of expressive devices, giving life and defying calculation or rigidity.

And there is more that constitutes Patrick McArdle’s style, freshness and originality. Every artist is only 

as important as he is relevant to his time.  Some prefer to express the chaos and tragedies of the last 

century and some react by turning their back on this, celebrating that what pleases, or even the ridiculous. 

There is never any darkness in a McArdle painting.  We must acknowledge that lightness and joy is as 

profound as that which makes us weep.  McArdle lived through the effects of two World Wars and the 

Great Depression. Let us not underestimate what it takes to smile and laugh.  Certainly we have some 

great examples of that amongst what we think of as profound. Add to that this artist emerging during the 

greatest development of photographic art and the silent movie.  Has McArdle not combined both?  He 

captures a moment but it is never static -there is always motion.  For me this is unusual mastery.  I hope 

more and more people have the opportunity to partake, and realize that Patrick McArdle is to be treasured 

and given a firm place in our memory.

Edmund Battersby

Indiana University

Bloomington, Indiana 

August 2015

Photo Credit: Evan Duning