Biography
Howard Ashman Patterson, friend and contemporary of the Ashcan School of painters, was born in 1891 in Philadelphia and trained at the Philadelphia Industrial Art School, going on to join the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. After completing his studies, Patterson moved to France where he lived for two years before enlisting in the US military to fight in WWI. Applying his skills to camouflage, Patterson recalled “I came through eight months… at the front with a perfect score, having lost no position and having drawn enemy fire into dummy positions of my own construction.” Following his service, Patterson returned home where he continued his fine-arts career, documenting a particular love for the landscape of the American Southwest.
Throughout his life, Patterson would split his time between Europe and the United States, working and exhibiting across the country and in Paris before passing away the age of 79 in Ossining, New York. Howard Ashman was married twice and had two sons with his first wife, Betty. His legacy continues, as several members of the family are artists in their own right, including painters David Burns Patterson and Michael Remington Patterson, Howard’s grandsons.
It is estimated that Howard Ashman painted almost sixty canvases over his lifetime and produced many more pen and ink drawings and watercolors. Thirty to forty canvases remain in possession of the family.
Biography of Pat – by Remington Patterson (son of Howard) (14pp PDF)
Remington Patterson (1926-2014) was born in Nice, France in 1926 while his father Howard Ashman Patterson was painting and exhibiting in France. Rem returned to the United States with his family shortly afterwards and he and his younger brother Burns spent their childhood in Santa Fe before moving across the country to Westchester County, NY. Rem would go on to attend Yale University and became a Professor of English at Barnard College in 1955, where he taught for 40 years. Married to his dear wife Duane, with two children, Rem lived in New York City until his death in 2014.
Biography of Howard Ashman Patterson – by David Burns Patterson (grandson of Howard) (3pp PDF)
David Burns Patterson (1952-) is a painter who was born in New York City into a family with two generations of art tradition. He was especially influenced by his grandfather’s work.