Figure in Grey

Artist Sean Scully (b. 1945)

Date2004

MediumOil on linen

Dimensions299.7 x 256.5 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the artist, 2006. © Sean Scully.

Object number1989

DescriptionSean Scully was born in Dublin in 1945 and is renowned as one of the greatest exponents of abstract painting. He studied and worked in England until 1972 when he was awarded a fellowship to Harvard University. In 1975 he settled in New York and now divides his time between New York, Barcelona and Munich, where he is Professor at Akademie der Bilden Kunste, Munich. Scully continues to use a restricted visual language with unique and astonishing virtuosity. His work has evolved from the thin vertical and horizontally striped grid paintings of the 1970s through to wide bands of colour realised in broad brush strokes as is evident in Figure in Grey. The shallow picture planes of his early works have given way to a greater openness and light and air seeps through the softened edges of his blocks of colour nudging up against each other. The dynamic between solidity, space and luminosity has altered. The structure remains resolute and stable but the appearance of the underlying colours hints at mystery leaving the dialogue open-ended. This splendid recent work is part of a prestigious gift of paintings which Sean Scully has presented to the city to mark the opening of the gallery's new wing.

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