Sean Scully

Gagosian Gallery, New York, where acquired by the present owner in 1989

Florence Ingleby (ed.), Sean Scully, Resistance and Persistence: Selected Writings, Merrell Publishers, London, 2006, p.23, illustrated. 

The following condition report was prepared by Phil Young Conservation, Studio 3 Nutbrook Studios, 33 Nutbrook Street, London SE15 4JU: The painting was first examined at Sotheby's store and moved to the studio for treatment. The general condition is good and sound. CONDITION All the panels are flat and free of distortion, there is no loss or damage to the canvas. At a number of points around the edges and corners of the two red and black panels, note had been made of areas of paint lifting and curling upwards from the layer below (often seen on Scully's paintings; see images of painting pretreatment)), but with virtually no actual paint loss. There are a number of edge losses caused by contact with the raised paint lip over the edge, but without delamination of the upper paint layer, again this is a common observation for these works, and treatment is routine. All lifting paint and hairline cracks were consolidated, the paint surface cleaned, and actual losses filled and inpainted. The black and yellow canvas has some limited spot retouchings around the edges and corners and a consolidated crack. Missing joining bolts and nuts were replaced. TREATMENT Lifting paint was consolidated using BEVA 371 and heat, and with PVA emulsion. Fills were whiting and Mowiol with inapainting in removable Paraloid B72 with some acrylic gel. Please telephone the department on 0207 293 6424 if you have any questions about the present work.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

'The painting on the right is much longer - it is 12 feet long and called By Night and by Day. Sometimes I give my paintings longer titles. The reason I would do that is because I see the painting as a kind of narrative, travelling from left to right and back again; so then I will give the work a title that takes longer to read..'(Sean Scully, 'High and Low, or the Sublime and the Ordinary', 1989, quoted in F. Ingleby, ed., op.cit., p.22)

In contrast to the minimalist formalism of his 'tape and spray' works from the 1970s, the energetic relationship between vertical and horizontal elements in the present work is typical of the important developments to his style in the early 1980s. Freed from the tight matrix which governed earlier works such as Red Light (1971, British Council Collection) and Black on Black (1978-79, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sophia, Madrid), his handling loosened, becoming seemingly more spontaneous and his palette intensified with richer tones such as the bold black, yellow and reds which reverberate across the present composition, pulsating with energy.

The organisational elements of the composition into three distinct but related sections relates to the artist's experiences on a trip to Morocco in the early 1980s. He wrote: 'I was always very moved by the way material of carpets lay around partially covering each other in stores. That's what happens in Morocco. The most outrageous formal relationships are being constantly produced and destroyed in the market places through casual or informal picking up and putting down of blankets and carpets...' (Scully, letter to David Carrier, quoted in D.Carrier, 'Sean Scully. The Painter of Modern Life', Sean Scully, exh. cat., Villa delle Rose, Bologna, 31^st March - 1^st September 1996, p.21). By Night and By Day is an exceptional example of Scully's ongoing exploration and reinterpretation of striped elements which undoubtedly reaches a new intensity in the present work, heightened by the impact of its strikingly monumental scale.