‘Pollock and Rothko: I thought they were just dad’s mates’

A show celebrating abstract artist William Scott’s centenary has opened at the Hepworth. Jon Cronshaw reports.

By The Newsroom Friday, 21st June 2013, 12:06 pm

Robert Scott, son of painter William Scott at The Hepworth Wakefield

On display in the Hepworth Wakefield is a photograph of an exhibition in New York from 1954 which showed the work of Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth and William Scott with equal prominence.

While Bacon and Hepworth’s reputation continued to soar, Scott fell off the radar a little and mark his centenary the gallery is hoping to redress the balance.

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“William Scott, like Barbara Hepworth, was one of the pioneers of abstract art in Britain,” explains Francis Guy, head of exhibitions at the gallery which is staging the event with the help of the Scott Foundation. “For us it is really important to bring to the fore someone whose reputation has suffered, but who in the 1950s and 60s was celebrated.

“He had a huge reputation in this country, but near the end of his lifetime there was a slackening of interest not only in his work, but also that of his contemporaries. Of all the British abstract artists, his use of paint is so incredible – it’s so sensuous and lavish.”

Having enrolled at the Belfast School of Art in 1928, Scott was accepted into the Royal Academy Schools, London, just three years later. But Scott did not have an easy career.

“He was just beginning when war broke out in 1939,” says Scott’s son Robert. “Artists like Henry Moore and Ben Nicholson were that much older and had their reputations in motion – he had to start all over again.”

During the war, Scott signed up as a member of the Royal Engineers applying his artistic skills as a cartographer. “He would draw maps from photographs – he would identify landmarks,” Robert explains. “At that time they were being used every night by bombers heading to Dresden.”

After the war, Scott began to rebuild his reputation as an artist. He was represented by the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York which represented some of the biggest American abstract painters of the time including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and William de Kooning. “When I was a boy, I didn’t realise that these people were famous – I just thought they were dad’s mates,” Robert recalls.

Scott’s abstract work became recognisable through his use of simplified objects that appeared again and again as motifs in his work. “He was so inspired by Braque and Picasso and their still lives – their use of iconic emblems like the guitar, for example,” explains Francis.

In the final decade of his life, Scott developed Alzheimer’s disease. “His mind was still very visual, but he had great difficulty being able to organise paints or organise a canvas – that became impossible,” says Robert. “He was very frustrated because all this was in him, but it was locked up.”

Scott’s legacy goes beyond the art world – all the royalties that his work generates are donated to stem cell research working towards a cure for Alzheimer’s.

William Scott is on display at The Hepworth Wakefield until September 29. www.hepworthwakefield.org

William Scott’s long and distinguished life in art