Frying Pan - Still Life, 1947

Frying Pan – Still Life, 1947 is a visually-arresting work that emblematises William Scott’s approach to painting following the Second World War. At first glance, the simple arrangement of culinary objects speaks of the Northern Irish austerity that Scott experienced in his youth. Concurrently, however, the artist’s sophisticated exploration into the arrangement of colour, form and spatial geometry reflects a preoccupation that ensued throughout the artist’s celebrated career. In Frying Pan – Still Life, 1947, Scott demonstrates a masterful approach to composition - the ovoid shapes that reverberate across the canvas work in harmony with the linear diagonals that permeate the scene. The alignment of the eggs, positioned carefully on the table-top, create a subtle dynamism as they lead the eye towards the frying pan, whose crisp silhouette against the rich yolk-yellow of the background foreshadows the use of the motif as the most recognisable icon of his later work.

In an interview a decade after the present work was painted, Scott referred to the paintings of this series as ‘special moments’ in his career, defining his approach to the still-life in a manner that highlights the significance of these paintings to the artist. Speaking to Architectural Design in 1957, Scott recalled: ‘I wanted to animate a still life in the sense that one could animate a figure. I chose my objects, a frying pan, a few eggs, a toasting fork, objects without much glamour; I wanted my pictures to have a painting not literary success’ (W. Scott quoted in T. Crosby, Architectural Design, June 1957). Certainly, Scott chose his subject not as objects of ideological association, but as an arena within which he could experiment with the science of colour and form.

While Scott developed an appreciation for the work of the European Modernists such as Braque and Picasso during the time he spent in France before the war, he was certain in his conviction to create an idiosyncratic idiom in the rendering of his subjects, choosing instead to enter into a lively discourse with his European contemporaries, ‘I had been interested in the works of Braque for a long time but I felt that it was dishonest to merely take as some people have done the guitar, the carafe and the French loaf. I felt that in painting my own familiar objects I might imbue them with a conviction characteristic of both myself and my race. If the guitar was to Braque his Madonna, the frying pan could be my guitar, black was a colour I was fond of and I possessed at that moment a very black pan’ (W. Scott, 1952, quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), William Scott: Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings 1913-1951 Volume 1, London, 2013, p. 162).

In the year of its painting, Frying Pan – Still Life, 1947 was featured in a seminal British Council touring exhibition that sought to promote the more advanced aspects of contemporary British painting to the rest of the continent. Featuring acclaimed artists such as Ben Nicholson and Lucian Freud, this exhibition contributed to the evolving dialogue between British and Continental avant garde artists.

Frying Pan – Still Life, 1947 was first owned by Roger Senhouse, the publisher, translator and an associated member of the Bloomsbury Group of creatives. Recently published letters reveal that Senhouse had a passionate love affair with the writer and critic, Lytton Strachey, which ensued until the latter’s death in 1932. Frying Pan – Still Life, 1947 has now remained in the same family collection for almost fifty years, presenting an exciting opportunity to acquire a work that is not only fresh to the market, but also an exquisite example of Scott’s developing artistic language from the most formative moment in his career.

We are very grateful to The William Scott Foundation for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.