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拍品專文
In the Summer of 1976 William Scott embarked on a series of paintings that drew their subject matter from the fruit of a pear tree growing outside his studio at Coleford in Somerset. Scott himself wrote that he 'became a little obsessed with the tree on my studio wall last summer' (William Scott quoted in S. Whitfield, op. cit., p. 196). A series of seventeen paintings ensued entitled Orchard of Pears and numbered sequentially. Beyond the Orchard series he also continued to explore the same subject matter in a number of still lifes, for which the present work is one.
Although the pear as a subject dominated this series of works, Scott had been using this fruit as a pictorial motif as early as 1950 where he combined it with his more widely used kitchen utensils such as bowls, plates, frying pans and pots. Indeed, referring to his choice of subject matter he wrote in 1950 that 'I have aimed at expressing my ideas in as direct and simple manner as possible, taking for my subjects things seen, which are common and ordinary, believing that the poetry of the subject will be in the painting of it’ (R. Alley, William Scott, London, 1963).
As his imagery became less defined and more ambiguous, Scott’s paintings started to become more abstract in the 1960s. Working on a larger scale he looked to create a harmonious interaction between shape, form and colour with the picture surface playing a primary role in the work. He '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’ (William Scott, quoted in exhibition catalogue, William Scott, New York, McCaffrey Fine Art, 2010, p. 53).
The present work from 1977 sees Scott return to a familiar subject, apparently initiated by a particularly abundant crop on his studio wall. He takes these ripe and juicy fruits and reduces them to simple voluptuous green bulbs. By suspending them in white he continues to explore the formal construction of the painting through seemingly neutral spaces while returning to past iconography. Indeed this work encapsulates the central themes and concerns that drove Scott throughout his career.
'I am an abstract artist in the sense that I abstract. I cannot be called non-figurative while I am still interested in the modern magic of space, primitive sex forms, the sensual and erotic, disconcerting contours, the things of life’ (William Scott quoted in M. Toby and S. Morley, William Scott: paintings and Drawings, London, 1998, p. 31).
Although the pear as a subject dominated this series of works, Scott had been using this fruit as a pictorial motif as early as 1950 where he combined it with his more widely used kitchen utensils such as bowls, plates, frying pans and pots. Indeed, referring to his choice of subject matter he wrote in 1950 that 'I have aimed at expressing my ideas in as direct and simple manner as possible, taking for my subjects things seen, which are common and ordinary, believing that the poetry of the subject will be in the painting of it’ (R. Alley, William Scott, London, 1963).
As his imagery became less defined and more ambiguous, Scott’s paintings started to become more abstract in the 1960s. Working on a larger scale he looked to create a harmonious interaction between shape, form and colour with the picture surface playing a primary role in the work. He '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’ (William Scott, quoted in exhibition catalogue, William Scott, New York, McCaffrey Fine Art, 2010, p. 53).
The present work from 1977 sees Scott return to a familiar subject, apparently initiated by a particularly abundant crop on his studio wall. He takes these ripe and juicy fruits and reduces them to simple voluptuous green bulbs. By suspending them in white he continues to explore the formal construction of the painting through seemingly neutral spaces while returning to past iconography. Indeed this work encapsulates the central themes and concerns that drove Scott throughout his career.
'I am an abstract artist in the sense that I abstract. I cannot be called non-figurative while I am still interested in the modern magic of space, primitive sex forms, the sensual and erotic, disconcerting contours, the things of life’ (William Scott quoted in M. Toby and S. Morley, William Scott: paintings and Drawings, London, 1998, p. 31).