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拍品專文
William Scott met Henry Cliffe (1919-1983), painter, sculptor, printmaker and teacher, in Wales during WWII. Based on the army’s assumption that trained artists made good cartographers, they had both been stationed at Ruabon, Wrexham County, where they used lithographic techniques to produce aerial maps. Here they were given time to sketch and paint, and an arts club was formed.
After the war, Scott became Senior Painting Master at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, Wiltshire. Roughly two years later, he invited Cliffe to run the academy’s print-making department. Scott and Cliffe were in good company: Sir Terry Frost, Bryan Wynter, Tom Phillips and Peter Lanyon were also part of this remarkable group of teachers who were so important to the Post-War British art scene. Cliffe’s career started strong: he was chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale twice, initially alongside artists including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Ben Nicholson at the 1954 edition, and later as one of only four other artists at the 1960 edition. Redfern Gallery hosted his first ever one-man exhibition in 1956, and St George’s Gallery his second one in 1960, both leading London galleries at the time.
It was shortly after Cliffe joined Corsham, most likely in the early 1950s, that he married his colleague Valerie May. The present work was likely a wedding present from Scott to the new couple, given that it was received by Cliffe early on in their friendship and was not exhibited or seen for almost fifty years after this, in 1996. This rather uplifting story only adds to the charm of the painting itself, an early example of Scott’s mature style – in which domestic objects are distilled into elemental forms and arranged in quiet balance – and yet also of his engagement with the early French still life tradition, particularly the work of Braque or Vuillard. As such, Still Life with Bowl and Olives ranks as an important product from Scott’s mid-career, in which he began to transition from more figurative representation to a poetic abstraction.
After the war, Scott became Senior Painting Master at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, Wiltshire. Roughly two years later, he invited Cliffe to run the academy’s print-making department. Scott and Cliffe were in good company: Sir Terry Frost, Bryan Wynter, Tom Phillips and Peter Lanyon were also part of this remarkable group of teachers who were so important to the Post-War British art scene. Cliffe’s career started strong: he was chosen to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale twice, initially alongside artists including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Ben Nicholson at the 1954 edition, and later as one of only four other artists at the 1960 edition. Redfern Gallery hosted his first ever one-man exhibition in 1956, and St George’s Gallery his second one in 1960, both leading London galleries at the time.
It was shortly after Cliffe joined Corsham, most likely in the early 1950s, that he married his colleague Valerie May. The present work was likely a wedding present from Scott to the new couple, given that it was received by Cliffe early on in their friendship and was not exhibited or seen for almost fifty years after this, in 1996. This rather uplifting story only adds to the charm of the painting itself, an early example of Scott’s mature style – in which domestic objects are distilled into elemental forms and arranged in quiet balance – and yet also of his engagement with the early French still life tradition, particularly the work of Braque or Vuillard. As such, Still Life with Bowl and Olives ranks as an important product from Scott’s mid-career, in which he began to transition from more figurative representation to a poetic abstraction.