Arthur Maderson
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Arthur Maderson
"River Dordogne towards Sunset"
Oil on board, 35" x 48"
"River Dordogne towards Sunset"
Oil on board, 35" x 48"
Vibrant colour is a major feature of Arthur Maderson’s shimmering impressionistic landscape painting “River Dordogne, towards Sunset”, which displays his fluency with colour harmonies and his ability to capture the shimmering interplay of light and shade in the landscape. In a similar fashion to the Impressionist painters, Maderson is fascinated by human visual perception in both its physiological and psychological aspects, and his paintings are an attempt to capture a fleeting moment where nothing ever remains static. As the artist himself has said, his art strives to capture a "rich kaleidoscope of raw visual information" in an attempt to express what is actually seen rather then what is believed to already exist. The forms depicted in his paintings, merge with and dissolve into their environment, in a rich tapestry of dappled brushstrokes, which he describes as a 'surface universe composed of crushed jewels', in an attempt to imitate the way in which we actually perceive. His paintings, eschew contemporary trends and fashions in art, in his single minded pursuit of the idea of human visual perception and how that can be translated into art.
Born in London in 1942, Arthur Maderson trained as an artist at the Camberwell School of Art, which he attended from 1959 to 1963, and where his teachers included the artists, Frank Auerbach, R.B. Kitaj and Robert Medley. An interest in psychology and psychiatry led him to pursue a career in mental health, focussing in particular on using art as part of the therapeutic treatment of patients in psychiatric treatment centres and in penal institutions. In 1970 he was appointed to the position of Head Art Therapist in Park Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke, where he stayed for the next eight years. In 1978 he obtained a position in the British Institute for Brain Injured Children, where he was responsible for developing programmes of physical and neurological activities for brain injured children.
Although, Arthur Maderson achieved much personal and professional success in his chosen career, he still maintained the desire to pursue his artistic passion, and in 1982, at the age of forty, he made the decision to leave his rewarding career in art therapy and mental health services, to devote himself to painting full-time. Not many paintings by Arthur Maderson still exist from the period of his life prior to 1982, as he destroyed almost all of his previous artistic output when he decided to become a professional artist, .
Maderson found success as a painter almost immediately and in the following years; he had a series of successful one person exhibitions in Ireland, England and Belgium, and participated in group exhibitions throughout Ireland, England and the United States, which cemented his reputation as an artist. Although he achieved great commercial success as an artist with a number of his exhibitions selling out, he never sought to court the publicity that subsequently followed and never felt comfortable moving in artistic circles. Against the advice of his agent who wanted him to move to London to further his career, Maderson, then at the height of his success, retreated to an isolated farmhouse in Wales, subsequently moving to rural Ireland in 1989, fulfilling a lifelong desire to live in Ireland. He settled in Cappoquin, in County Waterford where he still lives and describes himself now as Irish, not by birth but by inclination.
Arthur Maderson is now considered to be one of the finest contemporary landscape and figurative painters in Ireland, and has exhibited his paintings throughout Ireland, most notably at the Cork Arts Society, and the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. He is also known as an astute art critic and author, and has contributed many articles to various art publications. His paintings can now be found in numerous public and private art collections internationally, including those of The Arts Council U.K., British Telecom, the Intercontinental Bank, the Crawford Art Gallery Cork, and the Irish State Art Collection at the O.P.W.
Born in London in 1942, Arthur Maderson trained as an artist at the Camberwell School of Art, which he attended from 1959 to 1963, and where his teachers included the artists, Frank Auerbach, R.B. Kitaj and Robert Medley. An interest in psychology and psychiatry led him to pursue a career in mental health, focussing in particular on using art as part of the therapeutic treatment of patients in psychiatric treatment centres and in penal institutions. In 1970 he was appointed to the position of Head Art Therapist in Park Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke, where he stayed for the next eight years. In 1978 he obtained a position in the British Institute for Brain Injured Children, where he was responsible for developing programmes of physical and neurological activities for brain injured children.
Although, Arthur Maderson achieved much personal and professional success in his chosen career, he still maintained the desire to pursue his artistic passion, and in 1982, at the age of forty, he made the decision to leave his rewarding career in art therapy and mental health services, to devote himself to painting full-time. Not many paintings by Arthur Maderson still exist from the period of his life prior to 1982, as he destroyed almost all of his previous artistic output when he decided to become a professional artist, .
Maderson found success as a painter almost immediately and in the following years; he had a series of successful one person exhibitions in Ireland, England and Belgium, and participated in group exhibitions throughout Ireland, England and the United States, which cemented his reputation as an artist. Although he achieved great commercial success as an artist with a number of his exhibitions selling out, he never sought to court the publicity that subsequently followed and never felt comfortable moving in artistic circles. Against the advice of his agent who wanted him to move to London to further his career, Maderson, then at the height of his success, retreated to an isolated farmhouse in Wales, subsequently moving to rural Ireland in 1989, fulfilling a lifelong desire to live in Ireland. He settled in Cappoquin, in County Waterford where he still lives and describes himself now as Irish, not by birth but by inclination.
Arthur Maderson is now considered to be one of the finest contemporary landscape and figurative painters in Ireland, and has exhibited his paintings throughout Ireland, most notably at the Cork Arts Society, and the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. He is also known as an astute art critic and author, and has contributed many articles to various art publications. His paintings can now be found in numerous public and private art collections internationally, including those of The Arts Council U.K., British Telecom, the Intercontinental Bank, the Crawford Art Gallery Cork, and the Irish State Art Collection at the O.P.W.