Still Life, Pears, 1977 oil on canvas by William Scott, 16 x 20in (40.5 x 51cm).
In 1953, British artist William Scott (1913- 89) made his first inroads into the New York art scene. James Johnson Sweeney, director of the Guggenheim, went to an exhibition of his work in London and reported to gallerist Martha Jackson: “At last England has a painter.”
Jackson represented Scott throughout the 1950s, introducing him to figures such as Pollock, De Kooning and Kline. In this period, he was inspired particularly by another Abstract Expressionist, Mark Rothko, who befriended Scott and visited him in the UK.