William Stott was an exceptionally talented artist of the later nineteenth century who won several medals in Paris Salons. The son of an Oldham mill-owner, he studied art in Paris from the age of twenty and at twenty-four won his first French award. He was an influential member of the artists' colony at Grez-sur-Loing (full of English, Irish, Scottish and American artists), and in 1889 held a one-man show at the Durand-Ruel Gallery (famous for its showing of the French Impressionists). He made a brilliant beginning.
On his return to England he became a follower and close friend of Whistler until his painting of Whistler's mistress depicted naked as Venus Born of the Sea Foam (Oldham Art Gallery) caused a rift between them. He was one of the first English artists to take up Symbolism rather than to follow merely in the path of naturalism and Impressionism. He adapted his style to exhibit in the Royal Academy and should have been on the brink of great success when he died suddenly aged 42, in 1900.
From 1882 Stott always signed himself 'of Oldham'. He was proud of his Lancashire roots and although exhibiting internationally across Europe and in the USA always showed at the Oldham Spring Exhibition and maintained links to Manchester and Liverpool (Walker Art Gallery).
The book accompanies an exhibition, curated by Roger Brown (Reading University), from December 2003 through to April 2004. Kenneth McConkey is a well-known and widely published authority on British Impressionism.
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