Blue and White

Details

William Scott, R.A. (1913-1989)
Blue and White
signed and dated 'W. SCOTT 73' (on the reverse), dated again and inscribed 'BLUE AND WHITE/OIL ON CANVAS 1973' (on a label attached to the stretcher)
oil on canvas
24½ x 24¼ in. (62.3 x 61.6 cm.)
This work is recorded in the William Scott Archive as No. 1381.

Provenance

with Gimpel Fils, London, March 1974.
R. D. Bell, Alberta.
with Whitford Fine Art, London, where purchased by the present owner circa 1993.

Exhibited

Zurich, Gimpel & Hanover Galerie, William Scott Recent Paintings, March - April 1974, no. 4: this exhibition toured to London, Gimpel Fils, September 1974.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The present work was painted the year after The Tate Gallery's retrospective exhibition of William Scott's Paintings Drawings and Gouaches 1938-1971 which ran during April and May 1972. Scott revisited forms and visual reference that he had used before, but now the importance of the edge of the canvas as part of the composition was emphasised. In Blue and White Scott has cut the forms at either side, in effect stretching the composition sideways and has also painted the two sides and the top edge of the canvas to maximise impact and to send a clear message that the composition needs no frame. The table top of the still life is in the realm of the viewer's imagination and as John Russell had commented in his review of the Tate Gallery exhibition in the Sunday Times, 23 April 1972, 'the long, slender, wand-like handle of a pan can still become, in his hands, the instrument[s] of magic'. Russell also commented on Scott's recent work, in particular, the artist's use of blue, 'a blue of an intensity not common in English Art'.

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