Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 12th November 2018

60 49 William Scott OBE RA (1913-1989) Abstract Composition (1964) Executed in 1964. The Present work is registered with the William Scott Archive as no.1131 pastel on paper 34 x 36.5cm (13.5 x 14.5in) Provenance: Private Collection; Christie’s, London, Private Collection Sale, 8th March 1991, Lot 151; Private Collection €10,000-€15,000 (£8,928-£13,392) William Scott’s work is rooted in still life and the human figure but, over the course of his career, not unlike Giorgio Morandi with still life, he managed to accommodate whole worlds in the ostensible constraints of a single genre. By the 1960s, he was thorough- ly at home in an idiom that was both intimate and architectonic in its reach. The elegant simplicity of forms and the management of space belie the relatively small scale of the work.