Beschreibung:

Artist: William Scott CBE RA (1913-1989) Title: Still Life Pears (1977) Signature: signed and dated '77 verso Medium: oil on canvas Size: 25½ x 35.60cm (10 x 14in) Framed Size: 46 x 56cm (18.1 x 22in) Provenance: Adam's, Dublin, Important Irish Art, 30th May 2001, lot 60; James Adam & Bonhams, Dublin, Important Irish Art, 28th May 2003, lot 71; Nicholas Gallery, Belfast (label verso); Private Collection Exhibited: Art Fair, Chicago 1988 Literature: Catalogue Raisonné No.829: Volume 4 a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} In this late painting by William Scott two green pears, both outlined in black, are set against a plain grey background. The green pigment is bright, almost lime green, and uniform in intensity, and no attempt is made to model the fruit or render them as three-dimensional objects. The pears are res... Read more William Scott Lot 18 - 'Still Life Pears (1977)' Estimate: €50,000 - €70,000 In this late painting by William Scott two green pears, both outlined in black, are set against a plain grey background. The green pigment is bright, almost lime green, and uniform in intensity, and no attempt is made to model the fruit or render them as three-dimensional objects. The pears are resolutely flat areas of colour, in a neutral setting, which itself contains no references to either a table or a domestic setting. The painting is characterised by brushwork which in the areas of green is painterly, but in the grey background is spare, allowing the texture of the canvas to show through. During the 1970's, Scott delighted in painting still life's of pears; he loved the curvilinear outline of the fruit, and would playfully juxtapose pears with grapes, plates and tableware. Many of these still lives are titled 'an orchard of pears', reflecting his pleasure in both the concept and the reality of growing and ripening fruit. Born in Greenock, Scotland, at the age of eleven Scott moved with his family to his father's home town of Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. After studying at what is now the Belfast College of Art, and the Royal Academy Schools in London, he lived in France in 1938-1939, setting up an art school at Pont-Aven in Brittany. With the onset of WWII, he moved briefly in Dublin before settling in England. Scott's work from the 1930s and 1940s was predominantly based on still-lives of simple domestic objects but in the 1950s he moved towards pure abstract painting. In 1972 the Tate Gallery staged a retrospective exhibition of his work. Since the early 1930'a, perhaps more than any other Irish artist of the twentieth century (apart from Jack Yeats), Scott's work has been exhibited worldwide. In 1953, as well as showing at the Sao Paulo Bienal, he was introduced by Martha Jackson (at whose New York gallery he had several exhibitions), to Jackson Pollock Franz Kline and Mark Rothko Five years later, he represented Britain at the Venice Biennale, and showed also at galleries in Turin, Milan, Munich and other cities. We are grateful to Robert Scott for his assistance in cataloguing this painting. Peter Murray, January 2023