Patrick Hughes is a British artist and creator of the reverse perspective illusionist painting technique. His work includes Paradoxymoron, on public display on the Lower Ground Floor at the British Library St Pancras, London site.

Patrick Hughes © tonyhutchings

If you’ve ever been down to our cloakrooms you will have undoubtedly experienced the unnerving double-take effect of Patrick Hughes’ Paradoxymoron. One of our most popular artworks on public display, it’s a surprising head-turner for children and adults alike. We encourage you see for yourself next time you’re at the Library, or killing time before catching a train from St Pancras. Click here to explore the incredible artworks on display for free in our building.

Paradoxymoron 1996. Oil on board construction. 78 x 138 x 28 cm

We spoke to Patrick about becoming an artist, his ‘reverspective’ work and his links to the British Library.

'I used to work in the Reading Room in the '70s when the British Library was in the British Museum. I have warm feelings about the British Library and impressed that people like Samuel Butler worked there!'

Becoming an artist

Born in Birmingham in 1939, Patrick did not intend to become an artist. His original plan was to become an English teacher, and he spent two years studying English literature at James Graham Day Training College in Leeds.

Click here to listen to Patrick talking about his childhood on British Library Sounds, recorded in 2005 as part of National Life Stories: Artists' Lives.

During his time at College, Patrick became interested in humour and surrealism – his literary passions included the playful German poet, Christian Morgenstern, and the British author, Laurence Sterne. But Patrick was frustrated by being told ‘we don’t do that stuff in English, you should do art, it’s more imaginative.’

Switching to art and led by the interests of his art teachers, Muriel Atkinson and John Jones, Patrick became influenced by the Bauhaus art movement and the artist Paul Klee in particular.

'I was like a child in my work, straightforward and imaginative. I was a geometrical primitive, my style was at once sophisticated and simple.'

He went on to teach at Leeds School of Art before becoming a full-time artist.

Inventing the ‘reverspective’

Patrick with Sticking-out Room, 1964 Mixed media, 91.5 x 106.5 x 28 cm Photo © patrickhughes

Patrick made his first reverse perspective work, Sticking-out Room in 1964. Dubbed ‘reverspectives’, these works are optical illusions with pictures that appear to move as you do. The creative process involves building a 3D shape in wood, painting it white and measuring and sketching the geometric lines before painting with careful attention to shadows and light.

'It’s a sculptured painting using simple geometry with 90° and 45° angles.'

Despite producing his first ‘reverspective’ in the sixties, Patrick didn’t repeat the technique for almost three decades.

Paradoxymoron

Patrick’s work, Paradoxymoron, exhibited at the British Library, was one of his first reverspectives after his 30-year hiatus.

It shows a series of library book stacks that appear to move with your movements. It took Patrick a couple of months to make at home, with a saw and a pot of glue, in his Belsize Park flat.

'It’s an honour to have my work in the British Library. I’m a booky kind of person and bookshelves are good subjects for my work with perspectives.'

Patrick chose the location to hang the work himself. It can be found just outside the cloakroom, an area where visitors are in motion and get to experience the somewhat alarming sensation of the painting following your movements.

Other examples of Patrick’s work

Now aged 81, Patrick is still painting. He employs several assistants in his London-based studio, and for the last 25 years, his ‘reverspective’ works have been exhibited around the world. His A Study of the Studiolo is on permanent display at the British Academy in London. He has also written books on the themes of paradox and oxymorons and has produced thousands of prints.

Patrick at work © patrickhughes

Visit Patrick’s website

Follow Patrick on Instagram

Explore other artworks you can visit for free at the British Library

In our Meet the Maker blog series, we profile the independent creative businesses behind some of our product ranges in the British Library Shop (both online and at our St Pancras, London site). This month, we meet Eleanor Stuart, who designed our new Book Lovers Christmas jumper, baubles, and greeting cards.

Eleanor is an illustrator and designer based in East London, who creates bold, fun and colourful designs with the aim of bringing a smile and a bit of joy to people’s lives.

‘I gather inspiration from a wide range of sources and am always collecting ideas and images from galleries, literature, shops and across the internet. I find I can be inspired by anything from Banksy to a random window display I've seen so I'm always on the lookout for something new. I keep an ongoing book of ideas and products I'd love to create so there's always something keeping me busy!’

The business started back in 2013, with the first collection based on Alice in Wonderland. The British Library Shop was one of Eleanor’s first stockists, with a selection of her plates forming part of an Alice-themed range. Eleanor used the Library’s online collection as inspiration for the range – you can find out more about this in her case study video.

Almost a year ago, we met with Eleanor to talk about bespoke book baubles for our 2021 Christmas range, which expanded into Eleanor adapting some of her Christmas card designs to give them a book-lovers spin, and turning these into gift wrap. We liked the initial designs so much we asked Eleanor if she would design our new Christmas jumper too!

‘It was my first time designing a jumper and I loved it. I was lucky that the British Library team gave me quite an open brief for the design but obviously it had to be festive and book themed!’

After ‘a bit of a light bulb moment’ whilst singing Mariah Carey’s classic All I Want for Christmas Is You, Eleanor gave the song a literary twist and the jumper design was born. Made in the UK from cosy knitted acrylic, we love the Book Lovers’ Christmas jumper, and have been delighted with the really positive feedback and great sales since its launch earlier this month.

‘Being stocked in the British Library shop is particularly special to me because it's one of the first shops I supplied and it made me feel so excited to see my products in a real shop! It's also always meant a lot to me to supply and support such an iconic British institution.’

So what’s next for Eleanor? She has recently moved into a new studio, and, having worked ‘from kitchen tables to windowless self-storage rooms and everything in between’, Eleanor’s delighted to have a beautiful space for her growing business. There’s also the launch of more textiles, mugs and tea towels to look forward to, along with Christmas sacks and stockings. Eleanor would also ‘love to get a dog to bring to the studio if that counts as business planning!’

Eleanor’s advice for anyone starting out with their own business?

‘I would say find a way to just get out there and start doing it, even in a small way. I know when I started it was easy to get bogged down by all the 'what if's' and I realised that I just needed to get my work out there and see what happened and what people thought of it. I started very small doing local craft fairs where people seemed to love my products, then I grew to pop up shops and trade shows and now nearly 10 years on it's a full-time business.’

Browse the British Library Shop’s Eleanor Stuart range

Visit Eleanor’s website

Follow Eleanor on Instagram

‘It’s the joy of helping people to find answers to their questions. Not just giving them the answer, but enabling them to find the information for themselves.’

Continuing our Libraries Week launch of our new series, Library Lives, we meet Sally Halper, qualified librarian and Head of Content Strategy and Services at the British Library.

Where was your local library growing up?

My local library was in Leeds. It was the old branch library in Headingley, which was called Bennett Road library, and it was amazing. It was like a TARDIS, because it was actually quite a small building but on the inside it seemed much bigger, and it had an element of Hogwarts because it had lots of high shelves and tons and tons of books. It’s been replaced now with something more modern and bright and airy, which I also loved.

Why did you want to become a librarian?

My first work experience, when I was 16, was at Leeds Central Lending Library and that experience working for a month at the lending desk was so much fun and so interesting. I particularly enjoyed dealing with the public – they could come in and ask you literally anything and being able to help them to find the answers to their questions just really set me off on a path of loving libraries.

What does your current job involve?

I lead the development of the Library’s contemporary content strategy, which covers everything that’s been published since 1945, and I commission user research to help inform our strategy.

Do you have a favourite item in the Library’s collection?

That’s really hard to answer where there are so many millions of items in the collection! But for me it has to be our remote access content – that’s digital content that our Readers and other customers can access from outside the building. Over the last 18 months that has been so important, during lockdown.

Do you have a favourite or unexpected enquiry that you’ve helped someone with?

In my early days working at the British Library, I helped to answer an enquiry about chemical formulae for ancient perfumes for a gentleman was looking to restart his grandfather’s business, which had been a big manufacturer of perfumes here in the UK. It was a fascinating enquiry to work on, partly because of his enthusiasm and because it was for a business start-up. I have a background in business and management, so that’s something that I care a lot about.

What's your favourite thing that you can do in a library?

It’s the joy of helping people to find answers to their questions. Not just giving them the answer, but enabling them to find the information for themselves. Working directly with the public and getting to the end of that journey with them and seeing how pleased they are with the end result.

What do you think makes a good librarian?

Patience. Not leaping in and trying to answer a patron’s question without asking a few more questions first, to properly understand what they need. And having a great knowledge of all the different resources available.

How have things changed in libraries since you qualified?

I qualified as a chartered librarian in 2008. Since then the main change has been, obviously, technological. The scale and complexity of the different publications we now deal with has been the biggest change. It’s a really positive thing though, as it provides access for people without them having to travel. It’s a positive and liberating change.

What one thing do you wish people knew about libraries or being a librarian that you suspect they don’t?

It’s not actually all about the books – it’s much more about working with people, and helping people to achieve what they’re trying to do.

Favourite fictional librarian?

Yes – the librarian in The Dragon in the Library by Louie Stowell. Her name is Faith and she is the head librarian in a public library and she is amazing. She is young, trendy, and has magical powers and a dragon living in the basement.

Can you give us a book recommendation?

Libraries: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles. It’s quite a short book, which is in its favour! It’s about the history of libraries and their place in human society. It’s quite controversial in places. I certainly don’t agree with everything in it, but I do think it’s an interesting way of looking at the role of libraries as actually quite subversive things.

Interview by Ellen Morgan

We spoke to people who have professional registration status as a librarian via the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals or who have an academic qualification such as a first degree, a postgraduate diploma or a Master’s degree in library and information studies or librarianship.

Is this you? If you’d like to feature in Library Lives, get in touch with [email protected]

Would you like this to be you? Find out more about becoming a librarian on the CILIP website.