On the Line: Conversations with Sean Scully

A unique look into the life and art of Sean Scully, an internationally celebrated artist and creative practitioner at the height of his powers.

Sean Scully’s paintings of brushy stripes and blocks of sumptuous color are critically acclaimed and widely admired. In this fascinating book, the record of countless hours of conversations between Scully and his friend art critic Kelly Grovier, the painter reflects on his extraordinary journey―from homelessness on the streets of Dublin in the mid-1940s to his current position as one of the most important abstract artists working today.

In these revealing conversations, Scully recalls with poignancy and wit his rough-and-tumble childhood in London, his tenacity in the face of rejection from nearly every art school in England, and his rise to prominence in New York in the 1980s.

Illustrated throughout with images that capture both the artist and his work, this volume explores Scully’s relationship with past masters, from Rembrandt to Mark Rothko, and delves deep into his eventual rejection in the late 1970s of minimalism―the dominant force in abstract art at the time. Punctuated throughout by passionately recounted stories of struggle and loss, perseverance and triumph, the portrait that emerges from these pages is at once intimate and surprising. On the Line reflects the scope of Scully’s broad interests and opinions, with segments devoted not only to his attitudes toward the art world and his most significant works, but also culture, politics, and philosophy. Scully communicates with a raw pugnacity that is every bit as hard-hitting as his big brushstrokes.

150 color illustrations

Kelly Grovier is a columnist and feature writer for BBC Culture and his writings on art have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, The Independent, Sunday Times, The Observer, RA Magazine, and Wired. He is the author of several books, including A New Way of Seeing: The History of Art in 57 Works, On the Line: Conversations with Sean Scully, and The Art of Color: The History of Art in 39 Pigments. He is cofounder of the scholarly journal European Romantic Review.