William Scott
William Scott was born in Scotland in 1913. His father, a sign-writer and house painter, was Irish and from Enniskillen; his mother Scottish. The family moved back to Enniskillen in 1924 to find a better standard of living. Showing a keen interest in art William was sent to study with Kathleen Bridle who introduced him to water colour painting and the French tradition in art. In 1928 he attended the Belfast College of Art and in 1931 studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He went on to become one of few Irish artists (although Scotland can claim him also) in the post World War II period to establish a national and indeed international reputation as an abstract or semi-abstract painter.
His development as an artist followed the early modernist pathway of moving from naturalism towards a spare and poetic abstraction but without relinquishing the imprint of the original naturalistic or man made source. The French modernist tradition of Cιzanne, Bonnard and Braque was a potent early source of influence. He lived in France for periods in Cagnes-Sur-Mer and St Tropez in the south and at Pont Aven in the north. The wall paintings at Lascaux, which he visited in 1954, made a lasting impact.
His consistent subject matters of kitchen table still lifes and the nude female figure he worked at and distilled to an emotional and erotic essence of line, colour, shape and texture. If his cottage still lifes left their first marks on a Scottish or Ulster table, his later ones still bore their imprint. In a memorial poem to the artist, Brendan Kennelly registers their impact:
Hardly an outdoors man:
Flickering candle, domestic gold,
Bottle, basin, pot, pan:
Slowly the shapes take hold.
And will not be forgotten.
Eggs, lemons, grapes, pears:
The man walks through the kitchen,
Wanders among the stars.1
The development of his work progressed towards less and less pictorial elements (a fish, a plate, a glass). The former supporting table top, tilted α la Cezanne, now becomes the vertical pictorial field or working ground and his gift for placement and structural balance becomes even more assured, simple and eloquent. Of his move from the representation of objects in space to the orchestration of objects and space he has commented: My problem was to reduce the immediacy of the individual object and to make a synthesis of objects and space so that the new conception would be the expression of one thing and not any longer a collection of loosely related objects.2...
...William Scotts work is represented in many national and international collections. He has represented Britain in a group exhibition at the Sγo Paulo Bienal (1953) and with a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale, 1958. He also has been included in Documenta, Kassel, Germany in 1959 and Rosc, Dublin in 1980. In 1986 a large retrospective of his paintings and drawings toured Ireland and Scotland and a major exhibition of his work was shown at IMMA in 1998.
(excerpt from catalogue essay)
Professor Liam Kelly
Belfast, October 2006
1 Brendan Kennelly, If You Were Bold Enough (in memory of William Scott), published in William Scott 1913-1989, RHA, Dublin, 1990.
2 As quoted in essay by Ronald Alley, William Scott, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealνon, 1986.
His development as an artist followed the early modernist pathway of moving from naturalism towards a spare and poetic abstraction but without relinquishing the imprint of the original naturalistic or man made source. The French modernist tradition of Cιzanne, Bonnard and Braque was a potent early source of influence. He lived in France for periods in Cagnes-Sur-Mer and St Tropez in the south and at Pont Aven in the north. The wall paintings at Lascaux, which he visited in 1954, made a lasting impact.
His consistent subject matters of kitchen table still lifes and the nude female figure he worked at and distilled to an emotional and erotic essence of line, colour, shape and texture. If his cottage still lifes left their first marks on a Scottish or Ulster table, his later ones still bore their imprint. In a memorial poem to the artist, Brendan Kennelly registers their impact:
Hardly an outdoors man:
Flickering candle, domestic gold,
Bottle, basin, pot, pan:
Slowly the shapes take hold.
And will not be forgotten.
Eggs, lemons, grapes, pears:
The man walks through the kitchen,
Wanders among the stars.1
The development of his work progressed towards less and less pictorial elements (a fish, a plate, a glass). The former supporting table top, tilted α la Cezanne, now becomes the vertical pictorial field or working ground and his gift for placement and structural balance becomes even more assured, simple and eloquent. Of his move from the representation of objects in space to the orchestration of objects and space he has commented: My problem was to reduce the immediacy of the individual object and to make a synthesis of objects and space so that the new conception would be the expression of one thing and not any longer a collection of loosely related objects.2...
...William Scotts work is represented in many national and international collections. He has represented Britain in a group exhibition at the Sγo Paulo Bienal (1953) and with a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale, 1958. He also has been included in Documenta, Kassel, Germany in 1959 and Rosc, Dublin in 1980. In 1986 a large retrospective of his paintings and drawings toured Ireland and Scotland and a major exhibition of his work was shown at IMMA in 1998.
(excerpt from catalogue essay)
Professor Liam Kelly
Belfast, October 2006
1 Brendan Kennelly, If You Were Bold Enough (in memory of William Scott), published in William Scott 1913-1989, RHA, Dublin, 1990.
2 As quoted in essay by Ronald Alley, William Scott, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealνon, 1986.
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'BLUE STILL LIFE, 1969-1970'
- Price Realised: 450,000
- Sale: 29 May 2017
- oil on canvas
- 48 x 72in. (121.92 x 182.88cm)
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'JUG AND PEAR, 1983'
- Price Realised: 120,000
- Sale: 04 March 2024
- oil on canvas
- 19 x 22in. (48.26 x 55.88cm)
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'CHINESE ORANGE III, 1969'
- Price Realised: 110,000
- Sale: 26 September 2022
- gouache
- 27 x 40in. (68.58 x 101.60cm)
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'JUG AND PEAR, 1983'
- Price Realised: 97,000
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- oil on canvas
- 48 by 56cm., 19 by 22in.
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'FRYING PAN AND EGGS, 1952'
- Price Realised: 74,000
- Sale: 18 November 2003
- oil on canvas
- 81 by 65cm., 32 by 25.5in.
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'STILL LIFE WITH SAUCEPAN, 1968'
- Price Realised: 72,000
- Sale: 28 November 2022
- gouache
- 23 x 36in. (58.42 x 91.44cm)
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'ONE PEAR, 1979'
- Price Realised: 60,000
- Sale: 27 May 2024
- oil on canvas
- 12 x 16in. (30.48 x 40.64cm)
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'TWO LEMONS AND GRAPES, 1974'
- Price Realised: 24,000
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- crayon and watercolour
- 51 by 69cm., 20.2 by 27in.
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'STILL LIFE WITH MUG, 1968'
- Price Realised: 18,000
- Sale: 25 May 2020
- gouache
- 13½ x 19½in. (34.29 x 49.53cm)
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'YELLOW PEARS, 1975'
- Price Realised: 10,500
- Sale: 26 May 2014
- watercolour and pencil on paper
- 11.75 by 15.5in., 29.375 by 38.75cm.
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'UNTITLED, 1961'
- Price Realised: 10,000
- Sale: 09 March 2020
- gouache
- 22½ x 30½in. (57.15 x 77.47cm)
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'VERTICAL BALANCE, 1966'
- Price Realised: 9,500
- Sale: 26 November 2018
- gouache on paper
- 27Ό x 21½in. (69.22 x 54.61cm)
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'TWO PEARS'
- Price Realised: 9,500
- Sale: 17 September 2002
- wax crayon on paper
- 20 by 25cm., 8 by 10in.
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'GRAPES, 1979'
- Price Realised: 9,200
- Sale: 19 September 2006
- lithograph in colours on wove paper (no. 30 from an edition
- 50 by 64cm., 19.5 by 25.2 5in.
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'CUP AND PAN BLUES'
- Price Realised: 9,000
- Sale: 26 April 2005
- lithograph
- 58 by 88cm., 23 by 34.5in.
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'GREEN PREDOMINATING, 1976'
- Price Realised: 8,000
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- lithograph
- 57 by 77cm., 22.2 5 by 30.2 5i
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'POT AND PAN'
- Price Realised: 7,000
- Sale: 19 November 2002
- gouache on paper
- 21 by 26cm., 8.25 by 10.2in.
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'STILL LIFE, 1988'
- Price Realised: 6,800
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- lithograph (no. 12 from an edition of 100)
- 58 by 77cm., 22.7 5 by 30.5in.
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'STILL LIFE WITH LEMON'
- Price Realised: 6,600
- Sale: 28 November 2006
- lithograph in colours (no. 24 from an edition of 100)
- 59 by 77cm., 23.2 5 by 30.5in.
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'PAN AND BOWL, BLUES ON GREEN, 1970'
- Price Realised: 6,400
- Sale: 21 February 2006
- silkscreen print; artist's proof from an edition of 100
- 59 by 77cm., 23.2 by 30.5in.
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'BLACK PAN, BEIGE CUP ON BROWN, 1970'
- Price Realised: 6,400
- Sale: 21 February 2006
- silkscreen print; artist's proof from an edition of 100
- 60 by 78cm., 23.5 by 30.75in.
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'STILL LIFE WITH LEMON, 1988'
- Price Realised: 6,200
- Sale: 26 November 2018
- lithograph in colours; (from an edition of 100 plus proofs and trials)
- 23 x 30½in. (58.42 x 77.47cm)
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'PORTRAIT OF A GIRL, 1948'
- Price Realised: 6,000
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- lithograph (no. 5 from an edition of 60)
- 43 by 33cm., 17 by 13in.
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'ODEON SUITE I'
- Price Realised: 5,800
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- lithograph (artist's proof set aside from an edition of 75)
- 50 by 62cm., 19.5 by 24.5in.
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'STILL LIFE WITH LEMON, 1988'
- Price Realised: 5,400
- Sale: 01 October 2018
- lithograph in colours (no. 36 from an edition of 100)
- 23 x 30½in. (58.42 x 77.47cm)
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'WHITE BOWL, BLACK PAN ON BROWN, 1970'
- Price Realised: 5,400
- Sale: 29 September 2008
- screenprint (no. 9 from an edition of 100)
- 59 by 77cm., 23.2 5 by 30.2 5i
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'ODEON SUITE II'
- Price Realised: 5,400
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- lithograph (artist's proof set aside from an edition of 75)
- 50 by 62cm., 19.5 by 24.5in.
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'SUMMER SUITE WITH BLUE, 1976'
- Price Realised: 5,200
- Sale: 01 October 2018
- lithograph in colour on wove paper; (no. 15 from an edition of 40)
- 22 x 30in. (55.88 x 76.20cm)