Bill Scott (born 1956 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) is a contemporary abstract
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
and
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
who works and lives in Philadelphia. Scott studied painting at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. and with the painter Jane Piper (1916–1991).
In 1980, while living in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on a travel prize, he met the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
abstract expressionist painter
Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artis ...
(1925–1992). In subsequent years he stayed at her home in
Vétheuil
Vétheuil () is a commune on the Seine, 60 kilometers northwest of Paris, France. Vétheuil is located in the arrondissement of Pontoise in the Val-d'Oise department.
Personalities
Impressionist painter Claude Monet lived in Vétheuil from 1878 ...
and painted in her studio. After Mitchell died, he wrote an appreciation of her published in ''
Art in America
''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...
''.
Since 1999 Scott has been making intaglio prints with the C.R. Ettinger Studio and in 2004 was awarded a grant from the Independence Foundation in support of his work in color
printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
. He has made commissioned etchings for the Print Club of Cleveland and for the Print Center and Fleisher Art Memorial, both in Philadelphia. In 2016 an exhibition devoted to his intaglio prints was presented by Philadelphia’s Cerulean Arts Gallery.
His
paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
,
pastels
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
, and intaglio prints are in public collections including the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
,
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
, the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. and
Woodmere Art Museum
Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, S ...
. In 2017
Rider University
Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and West ...
organized an exhibition including 22 of his works dating from 1997 to 2017.
In 1991, in memory of his parents, Scott donated a collection of works on paper by contemporary women artists to
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
. Since 2011 he is a board member and chair of the Collections Committee at Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia.
Style
Scott’s artworks blur the boundaries between abstraction and representation. Drawing from both nature and imagination, the paintings are not expressions of tangible realities but rather "ephemeral remembrances".Rosenfeld, Jason. 'Bill Scott: Refulgence', ''Bill Scott: Imagining Spring'', (New York: Hollis Taggart Galleries, 2016), 5. Exploration of color and form stands at the core of Scott’s work, where blocks of color, patterns and line are overlapped to form dynamic compositions that appear visually akin to collage.
The paintings rely on extremely vivid color palettes, applied in fields of color that evoke both urban and pastoral scenes. In this sense, Scott’s work continues the tradition of abstracted landscapes mastered by aestheticist artists such as Whistler. The artist continually turns to
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
E ...
and
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
for his subjects, stating that "underbrush and floral subjects have long been recurrent-if not paramount-to my painted imagery."Scott, Bill. ‘Artist’s Statement’, ''Surviving Ourselves'', Exhibition Catalogue (Philadelphia: Woodmere Art Museum: 2010), 22.
In the past decade many of Scott’s artworks display direct engagement with specific historical paintings by artists of particular significance to his own artistic development such as
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...
(1841–1914), Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) and
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
(1869–1954). In paintings of the past decade their works imprint themselves directly onto Scott’s own work, whereby he translates formal qualities of these master’s works onto abstract and colorful canvases.Zarobell, John. 'Form Reveal’s Art Secret: The Recent Work of Bill Scott,' ''Bill Scott'', (New York: Hollis Taggart Galleries, 2011), 8.
References
Further reading
* Gerdts, William. ''Two Centuries of American Still-Life Painting: The Frank and Michelle Hevrdejs Collection'' (Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2016), pp. 134–136, 280-281.
* Scott, Bill, 'Artist’s Statement,' ''Surviving Ourselves'', Exhibition Catalogue (Philadelphia: Woodmere Art Museum, 2010), 22.