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The story of how one of the UK’s great abstract painters was inspired by ordinariness – and the extraordinary meeting he had with an American artistic giant – is being told in a new exhibition in the West Country.
Three large-scale paintings by William Scott (1913 –1989) have been loaned to the Museum of Somerset in Taunton, not far from the artist’s home and studio in the countryside south of Bath.
Visitors will also learn about a trip the American artist Mark Rothko made to Scott’s home in 1959, during which they discussed murals they were working on for a restaurant in New York and a hospital in Northern Ireland.
The exhibition’s curator, Tim Martin, said it was a good chance to see Scott paintings loaned by the Tate in a place that meant so much to him and to think about the visit of an American icon to the West Country.
“The three works were painted at the height of Scott’s career in the late 1950s, when he was very confident in what he was doing,” said Martin.
One of the paintings being loaned to Somerset – Ochre Still Life – features pots and pans, while another, Black Painting, might be an abstract representation of stone walls.
The exhibition is called Beauty in Plainness – William Scott in Somerset. The title comes from Scott’s assertion: “I find beauty in plainness.”
Scott met Rothko in New York in the early 1950s. Martin said: “He was shocked at the kind of size and the scope of some of the abstract expressionist works being produced in New York. Scott and Rothko got on really well and in 1959 Rothko travelled to Somerset and stayed with the Scotts.”
The artists are known to have discussed murals. Scott was working on a large mural for the entrance hall of Altnagelvin area hospital in Derry, Northern Ireland.
When the abstract piece was finally unveiled at the hospital, before a large invited audience, the response was said to be horrified silence.
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At the time of his visit to Somerset, Rothko was working on murals for a restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building.
After the visit to the West Country, Rothko withdrew from the commission, feeling the exclusive environment of the restaurant was an inappropriate setting for his artworks. He presented a selection of nine canvases from the series to the Tate.
The exhibition runs from 15 November to 7 February 2026. Martin will be giving a preview talk about Scott’s life and work at the Museum of Somerset at 2.30 pm on Friday 14 November. Booking is required.
