Alison Watt O.B.E. (British, b.1965)
Peach

oil on canvasboard
Painted in 1994

Dimensions: 18.8 x 17.5 cm. (7 3/8 x 6 7/8 in.)

With Angela Flowers Gallery, London, 7 June 2002, where purchased by the family present owner

Painted in 1994, Peach is a striking and enigmatic work that captures Alison Watt at a fascinating and pivotal juncture in her celebrated career. Renowned for her luminous application of paint and her profound engagement with light, form, and the human figure, Watt presents here a tightly cropped, almost sculptural portrait. The subject's porcelain skin is rendered in delicate, blushing tones of cream, ivory, and, as the title suggests, soft peach. This masterful handling of colour gives the figure an ethereal, timeless quality, while the sidelong gaze imbues the work with an atmosphere of quiet introspection and psychological depth.

Born in Greenock in 1965, Alison Watt graduated from the Glasgow School of Art and quickly garnered national prominence. While still a student in 1987, she won the prestigious John Player Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London, leading to a commissioned portrait of the Queen Mother. Watt's early work was deeply rooted in the figurative tradition, often exploring portraiture and the female nude with a distinctively cool, analytical, yet intimate gaze.

Works from the early-to-mid 1990s, such as Peach, are particularly sought after as they represent a bridge between her early figurative successes and the monumental, hyper-realistic paintings of folded fabrics for which she is perhaps best known today. Surrounding the face in this composition are intricate, fan-like forms. Whether interpreted as stylized foliage, classical architectural motifs, or the deeply pleated ruffles of fabric, these elements perfectly frame the subject and hint at the artist's burgeoning fascination with texture, drapery, and the interplay of light and shadow on white and off-white surfaces.

Peach exemplifies the hallmark qualities of Watt's mastery: the subtle modulation of oil paint, a meticulously controlled palette, and an enduring dialogue with the Old Masters. It offers collectors a beautiful, deeply engaging example of one of Scotland’s most significant contemporary painters, whose works are today held in major international collections including the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the British Council, and the Uffizi in Florence.