Bidding on this item has ended.
Patrick Scott
GOLD PAINTING 38
Lot 51
Price Realised:
€115,000
Estimate:
€60,000 - €90,000
Patrick Scott HRHA, 1921-2014
GOLD PAINTING 38 (1966)
Gold leaf and tempera on unprimed canvas, six panels, each 48" x 48" (122 x 122cm), overall 246 x 366cm, one signed and dated.
Exhibited: Hamilton Galleries, London, 1966; "Patrick Scott" (re... Read more
Lot 51
Patrick Scott
GOLD PAINTING 38
GOLD PAINTING 38 (1966)
Gold leaf and tempera on unprimed canvas, six panels, each 48" x 48" (122 x 122cm), overall 246 x 366cm, one signed and dated.
Exhibited: Hamilton Galleries, London, 1966; "Patrick Scott" (re... Read more
Lot 51
Patrick Scott
GOLD PAINTING 38
Estimate:
€60,000 - €90,000
Patrick Scott HRHA, 1921-2014
GOLD PAINTING 38 (1966)
Gold leaf and tempera on unprimed canvas, six panels, each 48" x 48" (122 x 122cm), overall 246 x 366cm, one signed and dated.
Exhibited: Hamilton Galleries, London, 1966; "Patrick Scott" (retrospective exhibition); The Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin; Ulster Museum Belfast; Crawford Municipal Gallery Cork, 1981; "Patrick Scott Fifty Years", Penn Castle, Cork, 1994; "Patrick Scott, Image Space, Light" IMMA Dublin; Cultural Centre Letterkenny/Glebe Gallery Donegal 2014 (reproduced colour p.66-7).
Literature: Reproduced in "Patrick Scott" by Aidan Dunne, p.120.
Provenance: Private Collection, acquired directly from the artists family and by descent.
Patrick Scott is exceptional in Irish cultural history for the range and quality of his work across the fields of art and design for well over half a century. The artist Brian O'Doherty (aka Patrick Ireland) said that he had produced "the most consistently excellent body of work of any Irish artist."
In 1960, having being chosen to represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale and won an award at the prestigious Guggenheim International Exhibition, Patrick Scott felt confident enough to give up his day job with Michael Scott's architectural practice. Even before he'd qualified as an architect, he had wanted to be a painter and, throughout his years with the firm, he managed to cram in parallel lives as a painter and a designer. In fact, his involvement as a designer with Scott Tallon Walker, as it became, continued throughout his life.
By the early 1960s, he was making strides towards his mature painting style. Working with tempera on oatmeal-coloured, raw linen canvas, he produced a series of Device paintings, dominated by a coloured disc motif. The devices in question were nuclear bombs detonated in tests, but then he turned to the sun, as a more benign, radiant disc, acknowledging the influence of the Japanese flag on his art.
Then during 1964, he instituted some lasting initiatives in his work. He began to use gold leaf, often in combination with tempera wash. Gold leaf comes in squares. The circle and the square are Scott's two quintessential formats and forms. The gold leaf squares can be cut to fit a circular form; used whole, repeatedly, they encourage straight, right-angled or diagonal arrangements and throughout the mid-1960s Scott experimented fruitfully with these possibilities. Gold Painting 38 is an outstanding example of a series of ambitious works he made, as he was testing the limits of this visual language.
The key, he said in 1972, was always to simplify. It was a Zen-like principle he applied brilliantly to every problem he encountered in art, architecture and design throughout his career. The six square panels of No 38 form a composite arrangement of a single, simple composition based on geometric subdivisions of a square. The core composition consists of a band of white tempera wash and two bands of gold leaf that diverge diagonally. He effects two simple rotations that don't disrupt an overall symmetry, but create a subtle spatial dynamic.
GOLD PAINTING 38 (1966)
Gold leaf and tempera on unprimed canvas, six panels, each 48" x 48" (122 x 122cm), overall 246 x 366cm, one signed and dated.
Exhibited: Hamilton Galleries, London, 1966; "Patrick Scott" (retrospective exhibition); The Douglas Hyde Gallery Dublin; Ulster Museum Belfast; Crawford Municipal Gallery Cork, 1981; "Patrick Scott Fifty Years", Penn Castle, Cork, 1994; "Patrick Scott, Image Space, Light" IMMA Dublin; Cultural Centre Letterkenny/Glebe Gallery Donegal 2014 (reproduced colour p.66-7).
Literature: Reproduced in "Patrick Scott" by Aidan Dunne, p.120.
Provenance: Private Collection, acquired directly from the artists family and by descent.
Patrick Scott is exceptional in Irish cultural history for the range and quality of his work across the fields of art and design for well over half a century. The artist Brian O'Doherty (aka Patrick Ireland) said that he had produced "the most consistently excellent body of work of any Irish artist."
In 1960, having being chosen to represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale and won an award at the prestigious Guggenheim International Exhibition, Patrick Scott felt confident enough to give up his day job with Michael Scott's architectural practice. Even before he'd qualified as an architect, he had wanted to be a painter and, throughout his years with the firm, he managed to cram in parallel lives as a painter and a designer. In fact, his involvement as a designer with Scott Tallon Walker, as it became, continued throughout his life.
By the early 1960s, he was making strides towards his mature painting style. Working with tempera on oatmeal-coloured, raw linen canvas, he produced a series of Device paintings, dominated by a coloured disc motif. The devices in question were nuclear bombs detonated in tests, but then he turned to the sun, as a more benign, radiant disc, acknowledging the influence of the Japanese flag on his art.
Then during 1964, he instituted some lasting initiatives in his work. He began to use gold leaf, often in combination with tempera wash. Gold leaf comes in squares. The circle and the square are Scott's two quintessential formats and forms. The gold leaf squares can be cut to fit a circular form; used whole, repeatedly, they encourage straight, right-angled or diagonal arrangements and throughout the mid-1960s Scott experimented fruitfully with these possibilities. Gold Painting 38 is an outstanding example of a series of ambitious works he made, as he was testing the limits of this visual language.
The key, he said in 1972, was always to simplify. It was a Zen-like principle he applied brilliantly to every problem he encountered in art, architecture and design throughout his career. The six square panels of No 38 form a composite arrangement of a single, simple composition based on geometric subdivisions of a square. The core composition consists of a band of white tempera wash and two bands of gold leaf that diverge diagonally. He effects two simple rotations that don't disrupt an overall symmetry, but create a subtle spatial dynamic.
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All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
PLEASE BID EARLY TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT.
In order to allow rival bidders the opportunity to respond to a late bid the following extensions will apply:
IF A BID IS RECEIVED WITHIN THE FINAL 45 SECONDS OF THE COUNTDOWN THE CLOCK WILL RESET TO 60 SECONDS.
At any point you can leave a maximum bid, representing the highest price you are prepared to pay for a particular lot. Bidding only advances when there is competition from a rival bidder. In that case the system bids on your behalf, only up to the maximum if required. All bids are relayed to you be email, along with notification if you have been outbid.
All maximum bids are confidential and not disclosed. The system will endeavor to purchase the lot for you for the least price. Bids are subject to buyer’s premium of 25% (incl vat), with no additional charges.
In the event of a tied bid, the preference will be given to the bid submitted first. The second bidder will receive immediate notification of being outbid.
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