Sculptor and educator Anthony “Tony” Paterson (1934-2022) made work that has been widely displayed both nationally and internationally. As well as being exhibited in one-man shows, his work has been shown in numerous group exhibits, the most recent being “The American Way,” an invitational at the Mobile Museum of Art. He won many national awards and honors, including those from the annual North American Sculpture Exhibition in Denver, Colorado and the National Academy of Design. Among his commissions include portraits of Samuel Adler, Seymour H. Knox II, Charles Darwin, and Gregory Jarvis, the astronaut. His work is represented at the Eastman School of Music, the Juilliard School, the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University at Buffalo, and in many other public and private collections. In his work, Paterson celebrated humanity by skillfully portraying all aspects of the human form. His work expresses universality, combining European Classicism with the mysteries of ancient Mexican-American cultures, presenting a unique vision of the modern human condition.
Paterson taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB) for more than 35 years and became professor emeritus. While there, he created and supervised one of the largest university sculpture foundries in North America, headed the Casting and Welding Institute, and directed the move to restore and preserve three monumental friezes by Buffalo native Charles Cary Rumsey.
Born in Albany, NY, Tony Paterson first studied at the Albany Institute of History and Art at about six years of age and at 16 hitchhiked to Mexico, attracted by the Mexican muralists, where he explored mural painting, figurative painting, and sculpture at the University of Guadalajara. Inspired by three-dimensional expression and Pre Columbian art, he pursued the field of sculpture at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. On being awarded a traveling scholarship, Paterson went to Paris where he perfected his drawing skills. He then traveled to Italy, Germany, and Spain, creating a number of sculptures and drawings that would later be nationally and internationally exhibited. On his return from Europe, Paterson studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, refining his skills in welding. As a MacDowell Fellow, he explored the medium of stone and how it relates to his sculptural vision. After several years, he received a post-graduate fellowship from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and traveled to Italy and Greece to study the classic masterpieces from that part of the world. Having been granted a teaching sabbatical from SUNY at Buffalo, in 1998, he traveled on a 32,000-mile trip through Central and North America, outlined in his online Connections presentation. Using a four-wheel-drive SUV, he explored native and Pre-Columbian art and culture of the region.
