John Douglas Patrick

John Douglas Patrick was a prolific painter who celebrated the beauty of nature, explored the depth of human emotion, and advocated for the protection of animals. Patrick was born in Hopewell, Pennsylvania, in 1863, the son of Scottish immigrants. They moved to a farm in Lenexa, Kansas, when Patrick was fifteen. Three years later, he enrolled at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, then moved to Paris to attend the Académie Julian.

In Paris, Patrick's career took off. He exhibited paintings in three consecutive Salons between 1886-1888. The next year, he was awarded a medal at the Paris World's Fair for his monumental canvas Brutality. The painting depicts a Parisian carter beating his horse; it was inspired by a real incident that Patrick witnessed and stepped in to prevent. Yet at the time it was awarded, Patrick had already returned to the United States, only receiving news of it coincidentally six months later. Brutality was kept by Patrick's Parisian dealer, and Patrick was unable to pay to have it shipped back to the United States for the next 20 years.

In 1895, Patrick returned to his family's farm to care for his ailing mother following the deaths of his father and two sisters. This began a long period of isolation during which he painted from the rural landscape almost every day. In 1903, they moved to Kansas City, and he began teaching at the Kansas City Art Institute. He married Grace Dunn in 1905 and the couple had two daughters. Yet Grace Dunn died in 1909, leaving Patrick to raise their two young daughters alone.

In 1908, Logan Jones, founder of the Jones Dry Goods Co., agreed to pay for Brutality to be shipped back. He exhibited it in his new store along with 200 of Patrick's paintings. This was one of the few exhibitions Patrick agreed to have, more often preferring to make his living as a teacher.

As a professor, he believed that anyone could make great art, no matter their training or circumstance. Patrick introduced his students to the French practice of drawing from nude models. Kansas City officials attempted to ban it, but Patrick won out through his insistence on its importance.

Patrick remained at the Art Institute until his retirement in 1936. That December, the college mounted a huge retrospective exhibition of his work. He died of a heart attack a month later. His paintings remained in storage until 1994, when his daughters' families bequeathed a collection of his work to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where Brutality now hangs on permanent display.