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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'CUP, BOWL, PAN, BROWNS AND OCHRES, 1970'
- Price Realised: 4,800
- Sale: 24 November 2008
- screenprint (no. 94 from an edition of 100)
- 59 by 88cm., 23.2 by 34.5in.
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'BARRA, 1962'
- Price Realised: 4,800
- Sale: 30 April 2007
- lithograph; artist's proof
- 50 by 60cm., 19.5 by 23.5in.
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'MINGULAY, 1962'
- Price Realised: 4,600
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- lithograph (no. 44 from an edition of 75)
- 50 by 61cm., 19.5 by 24in.
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'STILL LIFE, 1988'
- Price Realised: 4,500
- Sale: 30 November 2015
- lithograph; (no. 36 from an edition of 100)
- 27Ύ x 30in. (70.49 x 76.20cm)
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'A GIRL SURVEYED, 1971 (PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 4,400
- Sale: 07 December 2020
- silkscreen print; (2); (no. 32 from an edition of 75); limited edition book; (1)
- 32 x 22in. (81.28 x 55.88cm)
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'PEARS, 1979'
- Price Realised: 4,200
- Sale: 27 February 2017
- lithograph on wove paper; (no. 144 from an edition of 150)
- 19Ύ x 25Όin. (50.17 x 64.14cm)
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'STANDING FIGURE, circa 1960'
- Price Realised: 4,000
- Sale: 26 November 2007
- watercolour on paper
- 18 by 13cm., 7 by 5.25in.
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'BARRA, 1962'
- Price Realised: 4,000
- Sale: 17 September 2007
- lithograph (no. 1 from an edition of 75)
- 51 by 60cm., 20 by 23.5in.
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'ABSTRACT IN BLUE'
- Price Realised: 4,000
- Sale: 30 November 2004
- lithograph
- 58 by 79cm., 23 by 31in.
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'FIGURE INTO LANDSCAPE, circa 1960'
- Price Realised: 3,900
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- charcoal with traces of coloured crayon on paper
- 25 by 35cm., 9.75 by 13.7 5in.
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'ODEON SUITE II, 1966'
- Price Realised: 3,800
- Sale: 27 February 2017
- lithograph; (artist's proof set aside from an edition of 75)
- 19½ x 24½in. (49.53 x 62.23cm)
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'ARRAN, 1960'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 25 February 2008
- lithograph (no. 34 from an edition of 50)
- 51 by 65cm., 20 by 25.5in.
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'YELLOW SQUARE PLUS QUARTER BLUE'
- Price Realised: 3,600
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- silkscreen print (no. 40 from and edition of 72)
- 58 by 77cm., 23 by 30.5in.
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'STILL LIFE, 1988'
- Price Realised: 3,400
- Sale: 25 May 2020
- lithograph; (no. 12 from an edition of 100)
- 22Ύ x 30½in. (57.79 x 77.47cm)
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'BOTTLE AND BOWL, BLUES ON GREEN, 1970'
- Price Realised: 3,400
- Sale: 01 October 2012
- silkscreen on paper; (no. 55 from an edition of 100)
- 23.25 by 30.5in., 59 by 77cm.
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'ARRAN, 1960'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 31 May 2021
- lithograph; (no. 41from an edition of 50)
- 20 x 25½in. (50.80 x 64.77cm)
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'YELLOW SQUARE PLUS QUARTER BLUE, 1972'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 31 May 2021
- screenprint (no. 7 from an edition of 72)
- 23 x 30½in. (58.42 x 77.47cm)
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'BLUE FIELD, 1972'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 27 November 2017
- silkscreen; (no. 3 from an edition of 72)
- 21Ύ x 29Ύin. (55Ό x 75.57cm)
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'COBALT PREDOMINATES, 1972'
- Price Realised: 3,200
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- screenprint, artist's proof
- 58 by 38cm., 22.7 5 by 15in.
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'ANGLES EQUAL, 1972'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 07 March 2022
- screenprint; (no. 3 from an edition of 72)
- 22½ x 30Όin. (57.15 x 76.84cm)
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'STILL LIFE WITH KITCHEN UTENSILS, circa 1960'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- charcoal on paper
- 20 by 19cm., 8 by 7.5in.
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'YELLOW SQUARE PLUS QUARTER BLUE, 1972'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- screenprint (no. 25 from an edition of 72)
- 58 by 77cm., 22.7 5 by 30.5in.
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'IONA, 1961'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 19 February 2007
- lithograph (no. 64 from an edition of 300)
- 50 by 61cm., 19.7 5 by 24in.
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'A GIRL SURVEYED, 1971 (PAIR)'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 27 May 2006
- silkscreen print (no. 60 from an edition of 75)
- 81 by 56cm., 32 by 22in.
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'A GIRL SURVEYED, 1971'
- Price Realised: 3,000
- Sale: 29 November 2005
- silkscreen print (no. 60 from an edition of 75)
- 81 by 56cm., 32 by 22in.
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'STILL LIFE WITH PAN AND GLASSES, circa 1953'
- Price Realised: 2,900
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- charcoal and wash on paper
- 20 by 23cm., 8 by 9in.
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'SECOND TRIANGLES, 1972'
- Price Realised: 2,900
- Sale: 15 December 2007
- screenprint (no. 43 from an edition of 72)
- 58 by 77cm., 22.7 5 by 30.5in.
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'ODEON SUITE I, 1966'
- Price Realised: 2,800
- Sale: 25 February 2008
- lithograph (no. 32 from an edition of 75)
- 51 by 64cm., 20 by 25in.