Patrick Procktor R.A. (1936-2003)

Catalogue Note

Patrick Procktor was one of the most accomplished and celebrated artists in Britain in the 1960s.  Like his great friend, David Hockney, Procktor was striking and eccentric in appearance.  He mixed in the glamorous social circles of the day and became a favourite of the gossip pages of the society magazines.  His flamboyant lifestyle was finally to catch up with him, as the years wore on, despite his talents and successes his life was marked by a decline into alcoholism and he died at the age of just 67 in 2003.

Born in Dubln, he moved with his family to London at the age of 8.  After a short spell in the Royal Navy he entered the Slade School of Art.

His first exhibition 1963 at the Redfern Gallery sold out before it even opened, quite an event for the young artist who had only left art school the year before.  The following year Bryan Robertson selected Procktor along with the other stars of the British 'pop art' movement, Hockney, Riley and Hoyland, for the first and most famous exhibitions of the New  Generation exhibitions at the Whitechapel.  Though by the mid-1970s the success of his friend, Hockney, had begun to eclipse his own, he remained a critically esteemed artist until well into the 70s and continued to receive commissions and to exhibit for the rest of his life.

Along with Hockney, Bacon and Freud, Procktor provided paintings to hang on the walls of Peter Langan's eponymous restuarant and favourite haunt of the artist set, Langan's, in return for drinks and meals!

He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1996.  His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private and public collections worldwide, including Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, the Government Art Collection, The Imperial War Museum, The Arts Council and Los Angeles County Museum.