In his early thirties Patrick Pye converted to Catholicism: here he tells BRIAN McAVERA of the impact this has had on his life’s work and his artistic alignment with Italian art before 1500
Brian McAvera: Patrick, like Camille Souter you were born in England in 1929, though of an Irish parent. Do you think that the English aspect had any effect on your temperament or your art, especially when a number of artists who clearly relate to you – I’m thinking of everyone from Palmer and Blake to Eric Gill, Spenser and Sutherland – were English?
Patrick Pye: [Indicates that he wouldn’t include Eric Gill, and that these influences are less now] My mother was Irish but with Protestant parents who came over to convert Ireland from its papist ways! My father was English but it was my mother who brought me up. I suppose I’m one of those English people who can’t live in England and love Ireland! Although my mother wasn’t very religious she was very well read and a highly intelligent woman, so I had a lot of arguments with her. I knew her family had come over in evangelical spirit and I knew that one day I’d have to make up my mind between my granny and my mother about God until eventually I became a Catholic.
