Influential 20th century artist William Scott at work.
William Scott was one of the foremost British artists of his generation. His main artistic focus was the theme of still life, though this came to be heavily influenced by abstraction, resulting in the clean, flattened forms and bold sweeps of colour that dominate his work.
Scott achieved notable success during his lifetime, and interest in his art has remained steady in the decades since his death in 1989. His work is especially sought after in the United Kingdom, and his prints (which account for more than half of his work sold at auction) regularly fetch between £1,000 and £5,000.
Though William Scott’s life was relatively conventional, it did have a bearing on the art he produced. As such, it is interesting to know a little about his life when considering his work; below are six things you might not have known about William Scott.
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His Childhood Influenced His Art
William Scott was born in Scotland in 1913 to a Scottish mother and an Irish father. In 1924, the entire family (which by this time included nine children) moved to the patriarchal home town of Enniskillen in Ireland. The family was not wealthy; as Scott described it, “I was brought up in a grey world, an austere world: the garden I knew was a cemetery and we had no fine furniture.”
This austerity shaped the art Scott would go on to create, in which everyday, mundane items (often kitchen paraphernalia) play a central role. As the artist put it, “the objects I painted were the symbols of the life I knew best.” There is a strange irony in the fact that the art inspired by a poverty-stricken childhood should go on to sell so well; the majority of Scott’s most sought-after prints are his still life ones, including Cup, Bowl, Pan, Reds and Ochres, which reached £10,673 in November 2020, and Bottle and Bowl, Blues on Green, which fetched £8,562 in January 2021.
His Most Expensive Print Sold For Over £14,000
Still Life With Frying Pan And Eggs is a screenprint in colours from 1973, and it is typical of Scott’s still life art. A simple swathe of colour forms the background, and the mundane, recognisable subject matter is rendered in flattened, simplistic forms. Though Scott’s art does not appeal to everyone, there is undoubtedly a steady demand for his work; this print was sold by Adam’s in May 2022 for £14,549, nearly three times its estimated price.
He Served In The Second World War
After Scott left the Royal Academy Schools where he’d been studying, he and his wife (the sculptress Mary Scott, née Lucas) travelled extensively for a couple of years, mostly in France and Italy. They left France just days before the declaration of war with Germany on 3rd September 1939, and for several years they drifted throughout the UK, eventually settling in Somerset.
In 1942, Scott volunteered for the navy, but he was refused because he was ‘too light’ (he was a relatively short man). He joined the army instead, initially in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. As he was mostly based in London, Scott was able to continue painting throughout the war, and during this time, he had several successful exhibitions.
He Was a Teacher
In 1941, just after the Scotts had bought a cottage in Somerset, William Scott accepted a part-time teaching post at Bath School of Art. After he was demobilised from the army in 1946, Scott was appointed Senior Painting Master at the Bath Academy of Art, and his wife accepted a post to teach sculpture. During this time, Scott appointed several new teachers to the academy, including Terry Frost. He continued to make a name for himself as an artist whilst teaching, and in 1956, his reputation was secure enough that he gave up his post to concentrate on his own art.
He Was Part Of The Festival Of Britain
The Festival of Britain took place in summer 1951. Originally, it was designed to mark the centenary of the international Great Exhibition of 1851, but it was decided the Festival of Britain should focus only on national achievements, aiming to bring joy and pride to a nation that was still recovering from the horrors of the Second World War.
William Scott was invited to participate in the Sixty Paintings for ’51 touring exhibition which travelled the country. He contributed Still Life to it, a large, mostly monochrome painting featuring his trademark kitchen equipment and eggs. On the subject of the painting, he commented that “behind the face of pots and pans there is sometimes another image… This image which I can’t describe animates my forms. It’s the secret of the picture.” This is a kind of symbolism which can also be found in several of his sought-after prints, including Still Life with Pots and Bottle and Bowl, Blues on Greens.
He Shifted Between Figurative And Abstract Art
In his early career, Scott mostly created figurative art, with a particular focus on still life. In the early 1950s, however, he began to veer more into abstract territory. In the years to come, he would reintroduce figurative elements to his work again. This combination of styles is what he is best known for; his still life prints influenced by abstraction are among his most popular work today. One of the best print examples of this is Untitled (Thirty Five Artists), which was sold in May 2024 for £9,355.
