Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART Auction Wednesday 24th March 2021

116 103 PATRICK SCOTT HRHA (1921-2014) Atlantic Landscape Tempera on board, 92.5 x 125cm (36½ x 49¼’’) Signed Exhibited: 30th Venice Biennale, 1960, No.10, exhibition catalogue p.163. The invitation to represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale in 1960 marked a turning point for Patrick Scott. Still working for Michael Scott’s architectural practice, and in many respects quite happily doing so, he was at the same time keen to become a fulltime painter. “When I was selected for Venice,” he said, “that was it. I knew I had to get out, fast.” James White, then at the Hugh Lane and later Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, was the Irish com- missioner for the Biennale. He and Scott brought 18 paintings to Venice, a compact summary of Scott’s work over the previous few years, during which he’d made enormous strides. Atlantic Landscape is a superb exam- ple, synthesizing several aspects of his preoccupations and anticipating what was to come. One of the most important influences on his painting in the late 1950s arose from an architectural assign- ment: his work on John Huston’s Georgian house at Craughwell in Co Galway, St Clerans. Scott made weekly trips west by train to survey the work and meet Huston’s partner Enrica ‘Ricki’ Soma, mother of Angelica and Tony (they were based in the steward’s house on the estate). As Huston was usually away working, she over- saw the project and she and Scott got on extremely well. Gradually, the landscapes - the Bog of Allen and, to the west, the Atlantic - began to intrigue Scott. Atlantic Landscape reflects the vast terrain. Its symmetrical composition, a stylistic hallmark, formalizes the collision of land and sea, light and dark, the brimming turbulence of the ocean set against the drenched, implacable earth, overseen by an immense sky. From the centre, balancing arcs of ocean spray energise the composition. Scott liked tempera as a medium and at the time he also used it in a different, more static way in works inspired by bog land, soaking it into unprimed, wet canvas. Born in 1921 in Kilbrittan, Co Cork, Scott went on to study architecture and work for Michael Scott, while nurturing the ambition to paint. His involvement with the White Stag group during the war years encouraged him. He brought a spare, minimal, Zen-like aesthetic to everything he did, from his paintings to his numerous design projects. An unerring instinct for achieving an elegant simplicity of form won him universal praise and admiration. Represented by Taylor Galleries, he was the subject of many survey and retrospective exhibitions and his work is held in numerous public and private collections. Aidan Dunne, February 2021 € 7,000 - 10,000 CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOGRAPHS AND BIDDING