Updated October 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 3 works by Ian Scott in our catalogue
In short
Of all the originals Ian Scott left, the most famous is Sky Dash (1970), in the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland. Close behind it come Leapaway girl (1969) and Leapaway girl (1969). Our catalog holds 3 works by Ian Scott; the gallery has kept the 3 the world admires most, each shown with its date, its museum and its story.
To stand before Ian Scott’s Sky Dash is to be instantly transported into a vibrant, almost feverish dreamscape of the late 1960s. This painting does not merely depict a scene; it captures a moment—a breathless, exhilarating leap across a terrain that seems as much imagined as it is rendered. The subject matter, while superficially suggesting a sporting event, quickly dissolves into something far more abstract and emotionally charged. We see…
We find ourselves before Leapaway girl, a significant work by Ian Scott. This oil painting, executed in 1969, captures a specific moment in the evolution of New Zealand's visual language. It is an oil on canvas, a choice that allows for the layered, textured surfaces characteristic of the artist's approach during this period.
Ian Scott’s “Leapaway girl,” painted in 1969, isn't merely a depiction of a young woman airborne; it’s an intricate choreography of references, a deliberate conversation across generations of New Zealand art. Born from the fertile ground of post-war artistic experimentation and a burgeoning national identity, the painting emerges as a complex layering of influences – a playful interrogation of tradition, a flirtation with Pop Art, and a subtle nod to…
The four subjects that come back most often in these originals, each with its finest example.
The 2 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Ian Scott | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Te Papa |
Wellington | 2 | Leapaway girl, Leapaway girl |
 Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki |
Auckland | 1 | Sky Dash |
From 1969 to 1970, just 2 years, come all the dated Ian Scott works in this selection: here is each year at its finest.
Pick a year to see its originals.
We find ourselves before Leapaway girl, a significant work by Ian Scott. This oil painting, executed in 1969, captures a specific moment in the evolution of New Zealand's visual language. It is an oil on canvas, a choice that allows for the layered, textured surfaces characteristic of the artist's approach during this period.
More from 1969
To stand before Ian Scott’s Sky Dash is to be instantly transported into a vibrant, almost feverish dreamscape of the late 1960s. This painting does not merely depict a scene; it captures a moment—a breathless, exhilarating leap across a terrain that seems as much imagined as it is rendered. The subject matter, while superficially suggesting a sporting event, quickly dissolves into something far more abstract and emotionally charged. We see…
Sky Dash (1970), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland. Leapaway girl (1969) and Leapaway girl (1969) come next.
25 years old: Sky Dash dates from 1970, and Ian Scott was born in 1945.
Our catalog holds 3 works by Ian Scott, dated from 1969 to 1970.
Mostly in Te Papa (Wellington) and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (Auckland). The museum table above lists them all.
In 1969: 2 of the 3 works on this page were made then, Leapaway girl among them.
On this page, the earliest is Leapaway girl (1969) and the latest Sky Dash (1970).
Landscape (2) and Women (2), across the 3 works on this page.
Pop art, judging by the originals on this page.
Leapaway girl and Leapaway girl: the Te Papa, Wellington holds 2 of the works on this page.
Ian Scott enters the world in Bradford, England, on 20 April 1945. The landscape of his childhood shifts in 1952 when he moves to New Zealand. By the age of 15, the act of painting has already taken hold. It is a formative period of discovery that leads him to Kelston Boys' High School. He does not linger in the classroom for long; the impulse to create drives him toward formal study.
The mid-1960s mark a period of rapid professional ascent. Scott enrolls at the Elam School of Fine Arts, where he studies from 1964 to 1967. The momentum is immediate. In 1963, he holds his first exhibition. By 1965, he is already being recognized by his peers, winning the junior section of the Kelliher Prize. This early success establishes a trajectory that moves quickly from student exercises to a distinct presence in the local art scene.
The late 1960s find Scott leaning into a Pop Art sensibility, pulling from American pop-culture imagery to challenge the regional realist traditions of New Zealand. His 'Girlie' paintings from this era function as a complex dialogue with his predecessors. He weaves references to other artists into the canvas, using the figures of women to respond to the landscape traditions established by those before him. This period is defined by a tension between local landscape and the glossy, lolly-coloured aesthetics of international Pop Art.
As his practice evolves, the focus shifts toward the formal properties of the medium itself. He adopts a serial method, a process where each painting emerges from the necessity of the one preceding it. This leads to the development of his Lattice works. In these pieces, oil on canvas becomes a site for undulating ribbons of colour. He employs a technique of over- and under-lapping these ribbons, creating a sense of movement that ripples across the surface. By the 1990s, this investigation into form matures into a series of "paintings about painting," where flat blocks of colour are layered over traditional landscape structures.
The late 1960s mark a shift toward the "girl" paintings, where landscape meets a pop-culture sensibility. In 1969, Leapaway girl emerges as a central piece of this era. This oil on canvas work, currently held in the Te Papa, Wellington collection, features a leaping frock and bold colors that suggest a colorfield painting gone airborne. It sits alongside Jump over girl, a work held by Victoria University. These pieces often blend the local landscape with imagery lifted from fashion and advertising magazines.
The momentum continues into the next decade. Sky Dash, an artwork from about 1970, resides in the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki collection. This period of production highlights a transition from early landscape focus toward more complex, layered compositions. Later, the focus shifts again with the Model series. In these works, a solitary female nude poses within a bland domestic interior, often accompanied by paintings by well-known modernist and Pop artists.
