A well known Helensburgh family who for over 100 years played a significant part in the town’s cultural life is celebrated in a new exhibition, writes Donald Fullarton.

The latest annual exhibition in Helensburgh Library in West King Street by the Anderson (Local Collection) Trust features the very talented Patersons, and is open from now until the end of June.

Mary-Jane Selwood of the Trust said: “The nucleus of this exhibition was a recent donation to the Trust by a generous local resident.

“It was soon apparent that most of the paintings in this donation related in some way to the Patersons.

“These paintings now on display, together with others connected to the family on loan and from the Trust’s permanent collection, demonstrate the quality and breadth of artistic talent in the family.”

The best known is probably James Paterson RSA, PRSW, RSW (1854-1932), founder member of the Glasgow School of painters. His pictures on display were painted from his parents’ home, Hapland, 6 Alma Crescent.

His brother, Alexander Nisbet Paterson, FRIBA, ARSA, RSW (1862-1947), trained as an architect and has strong Helensburgh connections.

The Anderson Trust exhibition coincides with the opening of the new Helensburgh Civic Centre, part of which is the restored former Clyde Street School, one of the most significant designs by A.N.Paterson.

He was not only as the designer of a number of other notable Helensburgh buildings and the Hermitage Park, but also as an accomplished watercolour painter, as can be seen in the many examples of his work on show.

In the late 1890s a group of Glasgow School painters would meet to paint at Thornton Lodge, Sinclair Street, one of whom was James Whitelaw Hamilton, whose sister Maggie later married A.N.Paterson.

Maggie Hamilton (1867-1952) was an acknowledged artist at a time when women artists struggled for recognition.

She was an accomplished embroideress and responsible for much of the interior design of the Long Croft, the family home at the far end of West Rossdhu Drive, designed by her husband.

Less is known of her painting, but the Trust owns and is displaying her small still-life of violets.

The artistic gene in the Paterson family passed on to their daughter Mary Viola Paterson (1899-1981).

Examples of her work on show demonstrate her talent in a variety of different media: painting, engraving and stained glass design as evident in the stained glass panels on the far wall of the Library.

Viola designed these for the former St Bride’s Church in memory of her mother.

Her cousin, Hamish Constable Paterson (1890-1955), trained at Edinburgh College of Art and two of his paintings — on loan from a second cousin, also named Hamish — can be seen.

The exhibition has seven paintings by James Whitelaw Hamilton RSW, ARSA, RSA (1860-1932), who is connected to the family by his sister’s marriage to A.N.Paterson.

He made a formidable contribution to art, music and the community life of Helensburgh, where he lived for most of his life.

He too was one of the founder members of the Glasgow School and a very talented artist.