How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

In this vibrant still life Mellis simplifies the subject to its essential formal elements. The tabletop, vase and architecture of the room are resolved into a harmonious arrangement of rectangles, with the crossed diagonal stems of the anemones offering a focus to the composition.

Mellis returned to painting in the 1950s after exploring abstraction in Cornwall during the Second World War. This work is part of an extended series of Anemone still life paintings, which in their concentration on simplicity of form and composition are reminiscent of the work of William Scott and Ben Nicholson.

The Pier Arts Centre

Stromness

Title

Dead Anemones

Date

1957

Medium

oil on board

Measurements

H 46 x W 30.8 cm

Accession number

PAC 35

Acquisition method

gift from Margaret Gardiner, 1979

Work type

Painting

Inscription description

1. 'Margaret Mellis / Dead Anemones. / May. 1957'. 2. exhibition label for Tate (Pier Gallery Collection 20th Sept-29th Oct 1978). 3. exhibition label for Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums (Pier Gallery Collection 1978). 4. 'Dead / Anemones / 4.023'. 5. exhibition label (artist name and title).

Read less