Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery, William Scott, 1971 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, no. 5);
Aberdeen, Aberdeen Art Gallery, William Scott, 1971 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, no. 5);
New York, Martha Jackson Gallery, William Scott, 1975;
Woking, The Lightbox, The Ingram Collection: Diamond Jubilee Exhibition, 6 March – 15 April 2012;
Hastings, Jerwood, William Scott: Divided Figure, 27 April – 10 July 2013;
Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, Drawing On, 21 March – 7 June 2015;
Woking, The Lightbox, Bodies! The Ingram Collection, 21 November 2015 – 31 January 2016
Literature:
David Anderson, William Scott: Drawings, New York, 1975 (illustrated, pl. 20);
Norbert Lynton, William Scott, Thames and Hudson, London 2004 (illustrated, no. 264)
“I have all my life considered myself as being a figure painter.” William Scott’s nude drawings of the 1950s explore his fascination with the relationship between the abstract and the figurative, approaches he did not consider as mutually exclusive, “I am an abstract artist in the sense that I abstract. I cannot be called non-figurative while I am still interested in the modern magic of space, primitive sex forms, the sensual and the erotic, disconcerting contours, the things of life.” The stark, grey lines constitute a recognisably human form, but it is devoid of features, flattened against the page. The head and limbs reach beyond its boundaries and ghostly impressions lurk behind the surface of the picture.
