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Lot Essay
Scott returned to the theme of still life in his painting in 1955. Saucepans and pears were followed by simple compositions of bowls, mugs and bottles. Scott had given up teaching at Bath Academy to paint full-time by 1956 was able to produce 'a wealth of rich and complex still life compositions, many of which were shown at the 1958 Venice Biennale. In them the table-top fills most of the canvas, leaving only a horizon-like line at the top and sometimes a sagging bottom edge. On the picture plane itself the pots and pans and bowls and knives are marshalled with a virtuoso deployment of forces. Though freely drawn - the softening and roughness of the forms prevent any feeling of slickness - they are unmistakenly kitchen utensils. And yet they are no longer to Scott the 'symbols of the life I knew best': he stated at this time: 'I think these things are completely uninteresting. That's why I paint them. They convey nothing. There is is not meaning to them at all, but they are a means to making a picture'.
In the still-lifes of 1956-58 there is immense variety within the declared conventions. The general development is from balanced and static compositions towards an agitated profusions of forms and an extreme disequilibrium. Sometimes there are great empty spaces, with the objects clinging to the edges of the pictures and falling over the sides; sometimes they are crowded pell-mell on the tables. Often, as in Czanne, a vertical accent divides the picture in two equal halves: it is established by a knife, or by the side of a pan, or by an alignment. Scott's sense of proportion and interval is highly developed, and the tensions between forms are always taut. Paint surfaces are rich and varied and voluptuous, and a kind of animal vigour seems to cling to the pictures. Tonal contrasts are emphasized: colouring tends to be monochromatic, with a preference for orange-red, blue and ochre-brown. At times Scott uses more or less the same composition for a different coloured picture. It is as if he wants to find out what happens when he does the picture in brown, not blue, or when the background tone is changed from light to dark. As before in the still life sequence of 1948-51, Scott pushes the subject into ambiguity. 'Figure and Still Life' of 1956 introduces the figure of a small child peering over the top corner of the table' (A. Bowness, op. cit., p.11).
This work is recorded in the William Scott Foundation Archive as No.78.
In the still-lifes of 1956-58 there is immense variety within the declared conventions. The general development is from balanced and static compositions towards an agitated profusions of forms and an extreme disequilibrium. Sometimes there are great empty spaces, with the objects clinging to the edges of the pictures and falling over the sides; sometimes they are crowded pell-mell on the tables. Often, as in Czanne, a vertical accent divides the picture in two equal halves: it is established by a knife, or by the side of a pan, or by an alignment. Scott's sense of proportion and interval is highly developed, and the tensions between forms are always taut. Paint surfaces are rich and varied and voluptuous, and a kind of animal vigour seems to cling to the pictures. Tonal contrasts are emphasized: colouring tends to be monochromatic, with a preference for orange-red, blue and ochre-brown. At times Scott uses more or less the same composition for a different coloured picture. It is as if he wants to find out what happens when he does the picture in brown, not blue, or when the background tone is changed from light to dark. As before in the still life sequence of 1948-51, Scott pushes the subject into ambiguity. 'Figure and Still Life' of 1956 introduces the figure of a small child peering over the top corner of the table' (A. Bowness, op. cit., p.11).
This work is recorded in the William Scott Foundation Archive as No.78.