Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/stanley-william-hayter-1257" aria-label="More by Stanley William Hayter" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Stanley William Hayter</a>
Fish in Escoutay
Purchased 1952
abstraction
Alba, Escoutay
animals: fish and aquatic life
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
fish
formal qualities
France
from recognisable sources
landscape
movement
places
stream
water: inland
<p>An impression of darting, fluid movement is suggested by this work. Hayter was influenced by Surrealism and the idea of allowing images to rise from the unconscious part of the mind. He was also an experienced sailor, and this painting reflects his fascination with movement in water. 'The trajectory of movement is more clearly defined in water' he said; 'I can follow the laws of space better in the substance of water which is dense and at the same time fluid.'</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
23 March 2001 – 9 June 2002
2002-06-09
23 March 2001 – 9 June 2002
2002-06-09
2001-03-23
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2001-03-23
1951: The Shape of a Year
Collection based display
29 March 2025 – 14 September 2025
2025-09-14
29 March 2025 – 14 September 2025
2025-09-14
2025-03-29
Hastings Contemporary (Hastings, UK)
2025-03-29
Undersea
Loan-out
Fish in the Escoutay
support: 546 × 1480 mm
frame: 800 × 1735 × 120 mm
Purchased 1952
<p>An impression of darting, fluid movement is suggested by this work. Hayter was influenced by <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/surrealism" title="Glossary definition for 'Surrealism'"><span>Surrealism</span></a> and the idea of allowing images to rise from the unconscious part of the mind. He was also an experienced sailor, and this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> reflects his fascination with movement in water. 'The trajectory of movement is more clearly defined in water' he said; 'I can follow the laws of space better in the substance of water which is dense and at the same time fluid.'</p>
Display caption
2004-08-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06069</b> POISSONS DE L'ESCOUTAY 1951
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘Hayter 51’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 21 1/2×58 1/4 (55×148).
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Knapping Fund) 1952.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Whitechapel Art Gallery, November 1957 (56, repr. pl.27).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> ‘Quel Paysage avez-vous choisi?’ in <i>Arts</i>, Paris, No.368, 10 July 1952, p.10, repr. as ‘Paysage abstrait’.</p>
<p>Painted in the summer of 1951, when the artist bought a house at Alba in the Ardèche; he continued to paint there throughout subsequent summers. ‘Alba has greatly influenced Hayter's colour - an increased brilliance and heightened interest in light, deriving possibly from a preoccupation with L'Escoutay, a nearby stream. Began to use metallic colours (first experimented with in 1929) to get two alternative views of a picture according to the spectator's vantage point - like a positive and negative - and found that the practice transformed all colours used in such a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a>’ (Whitechapel Art Gallery exh. cat., 1957, p.10).</p>
<p>In an interview published in <i>Arts</i> (<i>loc. cit.</i>) the artist said in reply to a question about his interest in water: ‘The trajectory of movement is more clearly defined in water. I can follow the laws of space better in the substance of water which is dense and at the same time fluid - But does this trajectory indicate pursuit? - Naturally, life is a pursuit, work is a pursuit. It is not the goal that impassions me but the pursuit towards a creation, the value of which is indifferent to me.’</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction Alba, Escoutay animals: fish and aquatic life cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents emotions, concepts and ideas figure fish formal qualities France from recognisable sources landscape movement places stream water: inland