Summer Flowers

Gordon Scott

Scott was trained at the Royal College of Art (1934-38) under Gilbert Spencer, Alan Sorrell and Charles Mahoney. In 1938 he was awarded a Travelling Scholarship by the R.C.A. for painting. A reserved and highly principled man, during WWII he was a conscientious objector, stationed at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain.  His defined role there is unknown, but during his time there he produced a number of sketches and paintings of soldiers and other personnel who passed through the camp.

In 1946 Joseph Dixon, a close friend, asked him  to join the staff of Camberwell School of Art where he remained as a part-time teacher until 1980. The two artists lived together after the death of Dixon’s wife in Putney. When Dixon died, Gordon Scott moved up the road and lived at another friend’s house for many years. Scott also had a house in Upper Warlingham, Surrey.

He is remembered and revered by generations of Camberwell students, particularly for his Saturday morning drawing classes amongst the architecturally stunning buildings of London – the Temple Church, the St Pancras hotel and a Nash Terrace being particularly favoured.

Despite a lifelong, dedicated application to painting, Scott was reticent about exhibiting, although he did exhibit at the Royal Academy, the London Group, the Mall Galleries, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, and the Cooling Gallery. He did occasionally contribute to group shows, but his work was not seen in any great quantity until 2006, when, having turned 90, he had an exhibition at the Highgate Gallery.

Reference
Buckman “Artists in Britain since 1945, 1998”
Hassell “Camberwell School of Arts”