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William Stott (artist)

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Autumn by William Stott of Oldham, 1898 (detail)

William Stott (20 November 1857 – 25 February 1900) was a painter born in Oldham, Lancashire, England.

Life

He was born on the 20 November 1857, the son of an Oldham cotton mill owner.[1]

After studying in Oldham and Manchester School of Art[2] he went to Paris and studied under the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme.[3] He achieved rapid success, exhibiting regularly at the Paris Salon. He was an influential member of the artists' colony at Grez-sur-Loing which was popular with English, Irish, Scottish and American artists. It was here that he painted Le Passeur, now obtained by the Tate. In 1889 he held a one-man show at the Durand-Ruel Gallery, famous for its showing of the French Impressionists. On his return to England he became a follower and close friend of the painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler, until his painting of Whistler's mistress depicted naked as 'Venus Born of the Sea Foam' caused a rift between them.[4]

For much of his career, Stott painted landscapes, but during the late 1880s began to move towards pictures involving classical figures and allegorical themes, such as The Nymph of 1886, and The Birth of Venus of 1887. He worked in oils, watercolours and pastels, a medium appropriate to his atmospheric post Impressionistic style.[citation needed]

From the year 1882, Stott always signed himself 'of Oldham' – both to distinguish himself from another Lancastrian son of a mill-owner, Edward Stott ARA (1855–1918) and to acknowledge his proud Oldham roots.

Walter Richard Sickert described him as "one of the two greatest living painters of the world."[5]

He died unexpectedly whilst travelling on a ferry from London to Belfast on 25 February 1900.[1]

Works

References

  1. ^ a b "William Stott of Oldham". tate.org.uk. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b "William Stott of Oldham RBA (1857-1900)". myweb.tiscali.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  3. ^ William Stott of Oldham RBA (1857-1900), The website of Bob Speel.
  4. ^ Brown, Roger; McConkey, Kenneth; Oldham), William Stott (of (2003). William Stott of Oldham, 1857-1900: "a Comet Rushing to the Sun". ISBN 1903470218.
  5. ^ "Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec: Room 2: London and Paris 1870–1910". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  6. ^ Brown, Mark (5 May 2017). "Tate acquires British impressionist painting Le Passeur for £1.5m". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2017.