Artist Database

Larry Scully was born in Gibraltar in 1922 to an Irish father and a South African mother. He spent much of his childhood in Portsmouth, England, where he had to leave school at 13 to work at a grocery store to help support his family. In 1938, the family moved to South Africa and between 1939 and 1946, Scully served as a draughtsman in the South African Permanent Forces. During this time, he earned his high school diploma and after the War, he enrolled in the fine arts department at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Here, he met fellow artists Cecil Skotnes, Gordon Vorster, and Christo Coetzee. In 1963, Scully became the first person in South Africa to be awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree with his thesis that examined the influence of San art on Walter Battiss’ art. Scully worked in art education for many years. He taught at the Polly Street Art Centre in Johannesburg in the late 1940s, became a certified teacher in 1951, taught at Pretoria Boy’s High School from 1951 to 1965, and was appointed a Professor of Art at Stellenbosch University in 1975, retiring in 1984. Scully frequently exhibited his artwork locally and represented South Africa at the Venice and Sao Paolo Biennales in the 1960s. His style was predominantly geometric and abstract. He drew inspiration from his environment and was interested in light, form, colour, and shape.