Artist as killer turned conservationist

Why does a successful artist push some pictures, finished or almost finished, to the back of his work-place and leave them there indefinitely? There is no single answer to the question - as will be apparent at the studio exhibition of works by the late Sir Peter Scott, coming to the Wildlife Art Gallery in Lavenham, Suffolk, in October.

Wildfowler, sailor, artist, conservationist and bird-man extraordinary, Scott died in 1989, leaving as his memorial not only the hundreds of pictures which he had sold, but also the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the sanctuary, now of world-wide repute, which he founded beside his home at Slimbridge on the banks of the Severn.

His widow, Philippa, knew many paintings were stacked in the Canvas Room, the alcove at the back of his studio where he kept his canvases and frames; but it was not until a couple of winters ago that she and a friend, Mary Penny, began sorting them.

When she realised how large the accumulation was, she called on the distinguished bird artist Robert Gillmor for advice. For him, the contents of the Canvas Room were "an absolute treasure trove". There were drawings galore, unfinished studies and many sketchbooks. But there were also numerous oil paintings, most of them never seen by the public, including several from 1933, the year of the artist's first one-man show. Together with Lady Scott, her daughter Dafila and Mary Penny, Gillmor formed a hanging committee and selected nearly 150 works for sale in the autumn.

Lady Scott found that "it was quite difficult to decide" what her husband would or would not have wanted to go on show, for the exhibition will illustrate not only the range of his techniques, but also his conversion from killer to conservationist. For example, there is one memorable study of red deer in the Highlands, from the days when, in his own words, he was "an uninhibited hunter answering quite simply the urge to kill". A stag and his hinds peer from beyond an outcrop: the slaty blue of the mountain, the sliver of light along the dark sky beyond, the dun colour of dead grass, the rain slanting down, the tense attitude of the deer now that they have seen something - all this breathes the experience of an ardent stalker.

Again, the early studies of duck and geese date from the time when Scott was still an active wildfowler, and even if they are less accurate than later works, they are painted with tremendous fervour and passion. In one, geese are coming in to land in front of a huge, tangerine moon: the paint, laid on thick with a palette knife, glistens with highlights, not only in the background, but also on the birds' plumage.

Here, too, is evidence of Scott's habit of continuing to draw, no matter where he might be. A small sheet covered with red-ink sketches of geese turns out, on closer inspection, to be writing paper from the Hotel Seymour in New York.

Several pictures vividly portray the artist's wartime service in the Royal Navy. In one, as crude and violent as its subject, steam gunboats (in which he specialised) are slugging it out with the enemy: star-shells are bursting, red tracer looping, and in the distance a ship has just sustained a direct hit, a brilliant burst of flame.

In utter contrast are the delicate drawings of the actress Jenny Agutter, done when she was starring in the film of Paul Gallico's novel, The Snow Goose. There are also striking lithographs of the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, made in 1947.

As to why Scott kept all this back - according to Robert Gillmor, there are many possible explanations. Some paintings went out to friends on long loans, and returned years later. Some may have gone into exhibitions and remained unsold. Others may not have quite satisfied the artist, who felt he wanted to do more to them. Others, again, he may have liked so much that he did not want to part with them. As Gillmor puts it, "Bits and pieces from the past pile up in every studio".

The exhibition should take place in the year which marks the 50th anniversary of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. Commemorative events are being staged in Britain and overseas.

An illustrated catalogue of the studio exhibition, which will run from 6 to 27 October, is obtainable from the Wildlife Art Gallery, 97 High Street, Lavenham, Suffolk CO10 9PZ, price pounds 10.