William Scott, R.A.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner, the sculptor, Deborah Stern, in January 1958  

The work is on wove paper which has not been laid down although it appears to be adhered to the mount in the upper two corners. The sheet undulates slightly across the surface. There is a tiny vertical tear, approximately 2cm. in length in the upper right corner of the sheet. The surface of the sheet is naturally slightly smudged by the artist and is in good original condition. Held under glass in a dark wooden frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present work is registered with the William Scott Archive as no. 2313. Sarah Whitfield is currently preparing the Catalogue Raisonné of works in oil by William Scott. The William Scott Foundation would like to hear from owners of any work by the artist so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue or in future projected catalogues. Please write to Sarah Whitfield, c/o Sotheby's, 20th Century British Art Department, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA.

The present work will be sold with a copy of a letter from the artist to Deborah Stern dated 5 Jan. 58.

Although Scott often drew directly from the model, the present work is clearly after Gustave Courbet's Woman with White Stockings (circa 1861, Barnes Foundation). Working from Courbet's painting, Scott has reduced the form of the woman to a series of simple, thick black lines, excluding extraneous detail and colour. Perhaps due to the lack of colour, the model's pose seems heavily compressed and folded in on itself. Scott has cut off Courbet's composition just above the model's mouth and through her ankle to fracture the image of the body, thereby forcing the viewer to focus on the forms as a series of contours.

Scott himself remarked, 'for me, the first act in making a drawing is looking at the space I am going to work upon; and my primary object will be to relate the image to the edge of that space.' (Norbert Lynton, William Scott, Thames and Hudson, p.389). Hilton Kramer's review of Scott's exhibition of drawings from the 1950s at the Martha Jackson Gallery shows how viewers responded to Scott's aims. 'The drawings of the nude may be best described as a very personal, very 'Northern' counterpart to the drawings of Bonnard and Dubuffet on this theme. The figure is, in effect, 'reinvented' to conform to the shape of the space it occupies on the sheet of paper. A certain eroticism is wedded to a tough-minded aestheticism.' (Ibid, pp.426-427).