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Lot Essay
The dark cup and white frying pan shapes in the present lot are forms that Scott used repeatedly in his 1970s paintings. He varied the colours used, and here he paints with a monochromatic blue and white palette. Painted in the same year, Still life with pan (Fermanagh County Council, Northern Ireland) also includes the shape of the frying pan. Unlike this shape, however, the pan in the present lot is further simplified and conveyed with more geometrical lines. The shapes suggest kitchen objects, but his treatment of them turns them into abstract forms. He presents them as flat shapes in a flat space, further disassociating them from their figurative environment.
The title that Scott gives the painting also implies that he is concerned with the formal attributes of the piece, and that the subject of the painting is the colour and form, not the objects that are suggested by their shape. He uses the forms to create a controlled composition. In the 1986 exhibition catalogue, Ronald Alley supports this: 'The handle of a frying pan is used to tie the design to the edge of the picture and helps to stabilise the rows of floating forms' (op. cit., pp. 23-4).
Sarah Whitfield is currently preparing the Catalogue Raisonné of works in oil by William Scott. The William Scott Foundation would like to hear from owners of any work by the artist so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue or in future projected catalogues. Please write to Sarah Whitfield c/o Christie's, 20th Century British Art Department, 8 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QT.
The title that Scott gives the painting also implies that he is concerned with the formal attributes of the piece, and that the subject of the painting is the colour and form, not the objects that are suggested by their shape. He uses the forms to create a controlled composition. In the 1986 exhibition catalogue, Ronald Alley supports this: 'The handle of a frying pan is used to tie the design to the edge of the picture and helps to stabilise the rows of floating forms' (op. cit., pp. 23-4).
Sarah Whitfield is currently preparing the Catalogue Raisonné of works in oil by William Scott. The William Scott Foundation would like to hear from owners of any work by the artist so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue or in future projected catalogues. Please write to Sarah Whitfield c/o Christie's, 20th Century British Art Department, 8 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QT.