William Scott, R.A.

Hanover Gallery, London (Possibly)
Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, 1962 whence purchased by the present owners

Zurich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, William Scott, 11 November - 12 December 1959, no.4;
Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, William Scott, 2 June - 17 July 1960, no.17, with tour to Freiburg, Dortmund and Munich; 
Bern, Kunsthalle Bern, Victor Pasmore William Scott, 12 July - 18 August 1963, no.8.

 

 

The board is in good original condition. The paint surface is thick with impasto in places and is in good overall condition. There are inconsistences in the paint surface which are inherent to the work. Examination under ultra-violet light reveals passages of fluorescence which appear to be the working of the artist. Held in a gilded composition frame which has sustained some minor abrasions. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present work is listed with the William Scott Archive as no 2146. Sarah Whitfield is currently preparing the Catalogue Raisonné of works in oil by William Scott. The William Scott Foundation would like to hear from owners of any work by the artist so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue or in future projected catalogues. Please write to Sarah Whitfield, c/o Sotheby's, 20th Century British Art Department, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA.

Having returned from a brief essay into abstraction in the early 1950s, Scott, to a large extent, concentrated for much of the rest of the decade on the still-life subject of his early career. In 1955 and 1956, small-scale still-life paintings start to form a coherent group, using relatively few compositional elements, and it is to this group that the present painting belongs.

However, as the theme developed, the objects themselves became less and less significant, the forms becoming increasingly simplified and distorted, and their importance lying in their use as formal compositional elements. Freed from a need to keep the recognisable form of the object, Scott became ever more willing to use each one as a vehicle for textural diversity, either heightening a colour contrast with the brushwork, or in some paintings using the handling of the paint itself to delineate forms within a like-coloured background. Similarly the setting of the image could be manipulated, with the suggested planes of a still life composition becoming an equally weighted element in the image. In the present work, Scott has moved away from the obvious table-top format of the earlier still-life paintings towards a narrower view using the extremes of paint to place the familiar objects into a clear space closely pressed up against its background.