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William Scott
(1913 - 1989)
William Scott was born in Greenock 15th February 1913 and in 1924 the family moved to Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, the hometown of his father. In 1928 Scott enrolled at the Belfast School of Art and in 1931 at the Royal Academy Schools, initially as a sculpture before changing to painting. It was here that he met his future wife, fellow student Mary Lucas, they married in May 1937 and settled in Pont Aven, Brittany where they established an art school with the painter Geoffrey Nelson 1893-1943. Scott exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris 1938 and on the outbreak of war left France for Dublin before going to London and settling in Somerset. Geoffrey Nelson remained in France where he was interned and died of TB. Scott enlisted in the army, continuing to paint and on being demobilised in 1946 became a teacher at Bath Academy of Art at Corsham Court.
Scott had a growing reputation, he was a frequent visitor to St Ives and like so many of his peers exhibited at the Leicester galleries, in 1948 and 1951, that same year 1951, Scott was commissioned to exhibit at the Festival of Britain. He visited New York and admired the abstract expressionism of Rothko and de Kooning with whom he became friends. Rothko a significant figure in modern abstract painting, though like Scott ,originally a figurative painter stayed with the Scott’s in Somerset in the summer of 1959. br>
Scott represented Britain at the Venice Biennale of 1958 and exhibited extensively abroad through the British Council. In the 1960’s retrospectives were held in Zurich, Hannover Berne and Belfast. Further exhibitions were held in Tokyo, Paris, Brussels and Oslo. Scott was awarded the CBE in 1966 and elected Royal Academician in 1984. He died in 1989, his reputation as one of the foremost abstract painters assured.
His works can be seen in Tate Britain, National Museum of Wales, National Gallery of Modern Art Scotland, Ulster Museum, and in Enniskillen, Greenock, Aberdeen, Bath, Leicester, Cambridge, Eastbourne, Birmingham, Dundee, Bristol, Leeds, Hull, Stromness, Chippenham.
Scott represented Britain at the Venice Biennale of 1958 and exhibited extensively abroad through the British Council. In the 1960’s retrospectives were held in Zurich, Hannover Berne and Belfast. Further exhibitions were held in Tokyo, Paris, Brussels and Oslo. Scott was awarded the CBE in 1966 and elected Royal Academician in 1984. He died in 1989, his reputation as one of the foremost abstract painters assured.
His works can be seen in Tate Britain, National Museum of Wales, National Gallery of Modern Art Scotland, Ulster Museum, and in Enniskillen, Greenock, Aberdeen, Bath, Leicester, Cambridge, Eastbourne, Birmingham, Dundee, Bristol, Leeds, Hull, Stromness, Chippenham.
