PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, WASHINGTON D.C.
WILLIAM SCOTT (1913-1989)
Untitled
Important information about this lot
Price Realised GBP 275,000
Estimate
GBP 200,000 - GBP 300,000
Estimates do not reflect the final hammer price and do not include buyer's premium, any applicable taxes or artist's resale right. Please see the Conditions of Sale for full details.
Created in 1956, Untitled is a key example of William Scott’s renewed focus on figuration and the still life during the 1950s, following several years working in a distinctly abstract vein. His decision to revisit the figurative in his art was, rather unexpectedly, driven by his encounters with the Abstract Expressionists in New York during the summer of 1953. Scott had travelled to the city following a brief teaching post at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada, and there came into contact with Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. Admitting himself bewildered by the bold scale and audacity of their paintings, and yet equally seduced by the directness and immediacy of their technique, Scott began to pursue a new direction in his own art, using the traditional still life as a medium for experimentation.
Executed in bold, visceral brushstrokes, the richly worked surface of Untitled reveals Scott’s growing fascination with the very act of painting itself in response to these experiences, using layers upon layers of thick paint to create a highly sensual finish. As Scott explained: ‘The actual touch and the way I put paint on canvas matter very much. I am extremely interested in textural qualities – the thick paint, the thin paint, the scratched lines, that almost careful-careless way in which a picture’s painted…’ (W. Scott, quoted in D. Anfam, exhibition catalogue, William Scott, New York, McCaffrey Fine Art, 2010, p. 11). Here, the eclectic group of pots, pans and glassware that populates the table becomes a vehicle through which Scott can explore texture, mass and finish, their forms subsumed within the expressive force of his painting.
Purchased directly from the artist in the same year it was created, Untitled has remained in the same family collection for the last six decades.
Post Lot Text Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot. You must pay us an extra amount equal to the resale royalty and we will pay the royalty to the appropriate authority.
This lot has been imported from outside the EU for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on the invoice.
Please see the Conditions of Sale for further information.
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You have agreed to be bound by the Conditions of Sale and if your bid is successful, you are legally obliged to pay for the lot you have won. The purchase price for a successful bid will be the sum of your final bid plus a buyer’s premium, any applicable taxes and any artist resale royalty, exclusive of shipping-related expenses.
Condition report
A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.
The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.
Oil on canvas. On very close inspection the are some fine hairline cracks in the white pigments. When examined under ultraviolet light there are no visible signs of fluorescence. Subject to the above the work appears to be in very good overall condition.
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Lot 26Sale 18872
UntitledWILLIAM SCOTT (1913-1989)Estimate: GBP 200,000 - 300,000
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