Patrick Swift

Patrick Swift was a painter, illustrator, ceramicist, and art-writer. He lived and worked in Dublin, London, and the Algarve, Portugal. He was largely self-taught but took classes at the National College of Art and Design (under Sean Keating) and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris. He had his first solo exhibition at the Waddington Galleries in 1952.

Swift’s interests and influences were wide-ranging but mainly rooted in an expressive naturalism. Artists he admired included Rembrandt and Constable, Cézanne and Soutine. He also looked to the work of contemporaries such as Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti (who he met in Paris), and Lucian Freud. Freud worked in Swift’s studio when he visited Ireland in the early 1950s and their style shared similarities at that time. In his early work Swift used a cool grey palette to convey a sense of stillness and restrained realism. His subject matter focused on portraits, trees, and still-lives. He often included potted plants and garden settings within his portraits to add psychological intensity.

Swift was actively involved in artistic and literary circles in Dublin and London. As a writer he contributed to Envoy, Nimbus, and The Bell. He co-founded and co-edited X-magazine (1959-62) with David Wright. In 1962 he moved to the fishing village of Carvoeiro in the Algarve. He stayed there for the rest of his life - painting landscapes, plants, and trees. In 1968 he established Porches Pottery, which continues to be run by his family today.