Biography
William Bell Paterson (b. Glasgow, Scotland, UK 1852) opened a gallery at 33 Renfield Street in Glasgow in 1892, selling Barbizon and Hague School paintings, as well as the work of the Glasgow School. He opened a London branch at 5 Old Bond Street in 1900, briefly as a partner with Norman Forbes . Advertisements for exhibitions at “Forbes and Paterson’s Gallery” at 5 Old Bond Street first appear in The Times in 1900; by 1903, the space is identified as “W. B. Paterson’s Gallery” (Times, 29 June 1903, 1). In 1904, he sold the Glasgow business and moved permanently to London. Advertisements in the Times continue to list the Paterson Gallery at 5 Old Bond Street through February 1931; an advertisement on 12 May 1931 is the first to locate the gallery at 22 Old Bond Street.
