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拍品专文
‘My background was a very austere one, one of great simplicity, and I often feel that the way I paint was decided by that background.’ (Scott, quoted in A. Bowness, William Scott: Paintings, London, 1964, p. 5).
In the 1950s Scott continued to pursue the synthesis between austerity and sensuality, a dialogue that had preoccupied him throughout his life. Concentrating on what he described as ‘beauty in plainness’, Scott strove for a more streamline and minimal aesthetic, which could express the powers of image making. In 1955 he explained his ambition, ‘I would like to combine a sensual eroticism with a starkness, which will be instinctive and uncontrived’ (Scott, quoted in A. Bowness, ibid.). This notion of being uncontrived was important to Scott who wished to express an eternal validity in his works and present symbols of life, which in their simplicity offered a satisfying richness. Still life became his ‘chief occupation’, granting him an abstract and timeless genre, which would provide him with the freedom to experiment and exploit space and form.
Still Life on Black Table I (Landscape Still Life), 1956 is one of the most striking examples of Scott’s still lifes of this period, showcasing the artist’s mastery of line and tone. The forms are discernable as simplified still-life objects; to the centre right we can identify a saucepan, which sits atop a table top, with the discernable shapes of pots and mugs surrounding it. Stripped of any additional adornment or frivolous detail, Scott presents the objects in their simplest form, delineated by simple outlines. Here Scott flattens the pictorial space, through the reduction of perspective. Deploying a neat and strikingly economical aesthetic, through the exacting placement of his objects and carefully balanced palette, Scott grants a harmonious dignity and resonance to the composition.
What is most captivating about Still Life on Black Table I (Landscape Still Life) is Scott’s utilisation of space. The division of space and form became of paramount importance to Scott, who freed himself from the object and concentrated instead on the physical act of painting. The painted surface now becomes of central focus to him, manipulating tonal contrasts, tension of forms and proportions to generate sensations of space and depth. Scott explained, ‘I had returned to a new phase of abstraction with the difference that I was now prepared to leave larger areas of undisturbed colour. I no longer worry whether a painting is about something or not: I am only concerned with the expectation from a flat surface of an illusion' (Scott, quoted in D. Anfam, exhibition catalogue, William Scott, New York, McCaffrey Fine Art, 2010, p. 53). One is often conditioned to see the areas of white as negative, or at best neutral, however, Still Life on Black Table I (Landscape Still Life), subverts this practice, making the area of ‘undisturbed colour’ the key. Here the emptiness seems to bestow some primitive power or presence. Indeed primitivism in art was important to Scott who looked to the cave paintings of Altamira and Lascaux and the Pompeian frescoes he saw in the mid 1950s for inspiration, admiring their strong tactile and plastic qualities.
In the 1950s Scott continued to pursue the synthesis between austerity and sensuality, a dialogue that had preoccupied him throughout his life. Concentrating on what he described as ‘beauty in plainness’, Scott strove for a more streamline and minimal aesthetic, which could express the powers of image making. In 1955 he explained his ambition, ‘I would like to combine a sensual eroticism with a starkness, which will be instinctive and uncontrived’ (Scott, quoted in A. Bowness, ibid.). This notion of being uncontrived was important to Scott who wished to express an eternal validity in his works and present symbols of life, which in their simplicity offered a satisfying richness. Still life became his ‘chief occupation’, granting him an abstract and timeless genre, which would provide him with the freedom to experiment and exploit space and form.
Still Life on Black Table I (Landscape Still Life), 1956 is one of the most striking examples of Scott’s still lifes of this period, showcasing the artist’s mastery of line and tone. The forms are discernable as simplified still-life objects; to the centre right we can identify a saucepan, which sits atop a table top, with the discernable shapes of pots and mugs surrounding it. Stripped of any additional adornment or frivolous detail, Scott presents the objects in their simplest form, delineated by simple outlines. Here Scott flattens the pictorial space, through the reduction of perspective. Deploying a neat and strikingly economical aesthetic, through the exacting placement of his objects and carefully balanced palette, Scott grants a harmonious dignity and resonance to the composition.
What is most captivating about Still Life on Black Table I (Landscape Still Life) is Scott’s utilisation of space. The division of space and form became of paramount importance to Scott, who freed himself from the object and concentrated instead on the physical act of painting. The painted surface now becomes of central focus to him, manipulating tonal contrasts, tension of forms and proportions to generate sensations of space and depth. Scott explained, ‘I had returned to a new phase of abstraction with the difference that I was now prepared to leave larger areas of undisturbed colour. I no longer worry whether a painting is about something or not: I am only concerned with the expectation from a flat surface of an illusion' (Scott, quoted in D. Anfam, exhibition catalogue, William Scott, New York, McCaffrey Fine Art, 2010, p. 53). One is often conditioned to see the areas of white as negative, or at best neutral, however, Still Life on Black Table I (Landscape Still Life), subverts this practice, making the area of ‘undisturbed colour’ the key. Here the emptiness seems to bestow some primitive power or presence. Indeed primitivism in art was important to Scott who looked to the cave paintings of Altamira and Lascaux and the Pompeian frescoes he saw in the mid 1950s for inspiration, admiring their strong tactile and plastic qualities.