Category: News

On 12 August 1942, William Scott’s brother Hugh was killed on board HMS Indomitable in ‘Operation Pedestal’ off the coast of Malta.  The aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable was on its way to rendezvous in Freetown, under Captain T H Troubridge with the code name Force K.

Whilst Hughie’s body was interred at sea, the war memorial in Enniskillen commemorates his sacrifice as a Royal Marine.

Based in London, whilst serving in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, William Scott returned home to Enniskillen on compassionate leave.

To celebrate the life of the artist Claes Oldenburg, who passed away at the age of 93, James Scott is making his dual screen film The Great Ice Cream Robbery, featuring Oldenburg, available to stream until July 26th 2022.

The film can be viewed at https://vimeopro.com/user3582856/tribute-to-claes-oldenburg

For complete information about the film visit https://www.james-scott.com/gicr

An Orchard of Pears, No. 15
1976 or 1977
Oil on canvas
39.6 × 46.7 cm / 15½ × 18½ in approx.
Collection of ING Commercial Banking UK

This work was one of in the An Orchard of Pears Series. Charcoal lines visible under the paint indicate that Scott altered the position of several of the pears.

It was reproduced as An Orchard of Pears XV, 1976, at the Gallery Kasahara exhibition of 1977.

In 1988 it was purchased by the Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, and in November 1992 it was included in a sale at Sotheby’s, London. Later, it was acquired by Barings Bank which, after its collapse in 1995, became ING Bank NV, becoming part of the ING Collection.

The ING Collection is an award winning corporate collection, focused on forward looking art.  ING UK have selected An Orchard of Pears, No. 15 as their work of their month.

It was 50 years ago that the retrospective exhibition William Scott: Paintings Drawings and Gouaches 1938-1971 was held at the Tate Gallery, London 19 April-29 May 1972.

This major exhibition was organised by Sir Alan Bowness in collaboration with the artist.

The Retrospective was designed by the artist’s son Robert Scott who set out the total layout and the wall positioning of every painting and drawing having made a scale model of the total installation.

He also designed the sophisticated overhead lighting grid which was to be used by the Tate in their main exhibition gallery for many years afterwards.

We are sad to hear the news that Sir Alan Bowness has passed away. Sir Alan Bowness gave enormous support to the William Scott Foundation during the preparation of the Catalogue Raisonné, having an in depth knowledge on William Scott.

He had a close relationship with Scott and in 1972, Bowness in collaboration with the artist, organised the major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery, William Scott, Paintings Drawings and Gouaches 1938–1971. The catalogue was written by Bowness and was his second text to appear on the artist. The first, in 1964, a Monograph on William Scott.

The William Scott Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings is  one of the essential texts on leading artist selected by Anna Brady.

This hefty four-volume catalogue raisonné was published to mark the centenary of the British artist’s birth. Containing more than 1,000 paintings completed by Scott between 1928 and 1986, the catalogue took six years to compile and draws on material from the Scott family archive, including many previously unpublished letters. Continue reading “Six of the best catalogues raisonnés”