Featured RUDI PATTERSON (STAGE & MOVIE ACTOR, 60s & 70s #1 BLACK MODEL) PAINTING!

I found this at a local estate sale today; I saw a photo of it in the description of the sale on Estate Sales/net last night & when I enlarged the photo so I could see his name and then googled it, I learned he was from Jamaica & had been a stage & movie actor as well as one of the biggest black models in the 1960's.
But I couldn't find a single sale of his paintings! His work is in many museums & there was one article about a museum doing a exhibition of his work - and using the proceeds from ticket sales to try to acquire another of his paintings! But again no sales or offers for sale that I could find.
I was at the estate sale 1 hour early to be sure I got the painting. The lady doing the sale priced it at $250 because she, like me, found his bio but no prices for his paintings - so I guess she guessed at the value.
I believe it may be worth more & took a chance and bought it. Now I need help to see if I guessed right - any ideas on how I can find out what his work is worth? Was $250 too much?
ALSO! I wondered how the previous owners got it & then saw that on the back is written: Church of Jah Ja - that is a rastafarian church where marijuana is a big part (we had one here in Miami some years ago) - maybe he donated it to the church & they sold it?

I appreciate any help with this!!

PS - Rudi's bio from one of the articles on him:

Rudi Patterson was a proud Londoner and Briton. His vivid portrayals of home were mostly created from three small painting-bedecked flats in Kensington and Chelsea.

At the time of his death in July 2013, almost all the pictures in this exhibition were in his flat next to Trellick Tower.

Rudi was born in September 1933 in the sugar plantation village of Duckenfield, St Thomas, in the lea of the Blue Mountains, lush and tropical, where rain comes suddenly and often.

After studying in Kingston in the late fifties, he set off to London to become an actor. He took classes at RADA and through the Swinging Sixties and into the seventies he was frequently on stage and celluloid.

He acted in classics including Z Cars, The Professionals and the Rolling Stones film Sympathy for the Devil. His modelling success was unprecedented for a black man in that era: British Airways, Mr Fish, a big jeans campaign.


© Courtesy Leighton House Museum

His appearances in repertory and West End theatre included the groundbreaking, gay-themed The Boys In The Band and, in 1977, the world premiere of Michael Tippett’s The Ice Break at Covent Garden.

Entirely self-taught, he began to draw and paint in 1969 - incessantly so during months of convalescence after breaking his neck water skiing in 1973.

Over four decades he created around 1,000 pictures as well as hundreds of ceramic pieces, delicately glazed pots, sculptures and platters.

He painted in gouache,watercolour, acrylic and oil. In later years he produced colour-drenched abstracts and still lifes.

When wracked by back pain, he created vivid linear works. Rudi was involved in some 40 exhibitions, including one-man shows on four continents encompassing London, Manchester, Jamaica and even Australia.

London allowed his creative juices to flow. He was at home in every milieu the city could offer; aristocratic, thespian, bohemian – a keen gallery goer and cultural activist.

He witnessed both London’s decline and ascent, participating in its evolution from imperium to diversity. He loved the Notting Hill of market, Carnival and Absolute Beginners and lived through riots, Rachman and meterosexuality as his generation changed post-war Britain.

(From Culture 24: http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/pai...-taught-painter-Rudi-Patterson-Visions-Colour)

 

Wonderful painting. The title is probably Church of Jah. Situated in Ja(maica), like most of his paintings.
There is a lot of info about him, but I can't find any prices.

 

Unusual, right?
I just posted it to Christies auction estimates - unlikely though; I've submitted a dozen pieces and only got 1 estimate with an offer to list it in their auction (it was a circa 1920's - 1930's Switzerland travel poster)

 

Very colorful and VERY nice.....I like it!!!!! Maybe he never sold them!!!!! Best of luck with it!!!! Hope it's a 'sleeper'!!!!!!

 

Best of luck with it, it's beautiful and I would have paid the $250 for it, too!

 

Just lovely. What a pleasant thing to look at daily.

 

nice vibrant colors...

 

Thanks all - any thoughts/guesses what it is worth? If Christies declines to estimate it, any good online appraisal companies? (I tried ValueMyStuff but was really disappointed)
If you were to list it on eBay would you put it as a auction or Buy It Now?
If BIN how much?
If auction should I start at $250 I have in it - or put a $250 reserve on it (cost more)?
Thanks again!

 

I have no idea of the value, but here is the site of a Jamaican Gallery:
http://www.framecentregallery.com/artists.html
He would probably be called one of "the Intuitives":
http://natgalja.org.jm/jamaican-art/the-intuitives/