Lot Essay
Anning Bell's plaster reliefs were an attractive and characteristic product of the Arts and Crafts movement. He evolved the technique in the 1880s in collaboration with the sculptor George Frampton, a close friend since their student days; and the results featured regularly in the exhibitions of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and the pages of the Studio, which, from the very first issue in April 1893, promoted Bell's work and ensured, through its wide international circulation, that he became one of the most influential British designers in Europe. Bell was still producing reliefs in 1907 when he included four in his one-man exhibition at the Fine Art Society, noting in the catalogue that 'the reliefs can be repeated, the issue being limited to fifteen examples of each subject, worked upon, coloured and numbered by the Artist.' Not long after this, however, he seems to have lost interest in the medium, turning to other forms of decorative art, such as mosaic and stained glass.
Recent years have seen a considerable revival of interest in Anning Bell's reliefs. An article by Peter Rose on 'The Coloured Relief Decoration of Robert Anning Bell' appeared in the Journal of the Decorative Arts Society in 1990 (no.14, pp.16-23), and examples were included in the Last Romantics exhibition at the Barbican in 1989, nos. 246-8, and in the Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture exhibition at the Matthiesen Gallery, London, and the Birmingham City Art Gallery, 1991-2, nos.1-2.
The present relief would appear to date from about 1896, when Bell exhibited a relief of Ariadne at the Royal Academy (no.1872), no doubt the same design and possibly the identical piece. The colouring - predominantly blue, warm red and gold - is found on other reliefs of this period, such as the pair entitled A Skein of Wool, dated 1895, which are reproduced in Rose, op.cit., p.20, fig.6. They differ both from Bell's earliest reliefs, c.1890, which have a clear pale tonality, and the later ones, c. 1904-7, which tend to be much darker in colour.
The subject of Ariadne abandoned by Theseus on Naxos, the shabby sequel to her helping him slay the Minotaur, is typical of Bell's works in this medium, most of which show female figures, singly or in groups.
We are grateful to Peter Rose for his help in preparing this entry.
Recent years have seen a considerable revival of interest in Anning Bell's reliefs. An article by Peter Rose on 'The Coloured Relief Decoration of Robert Anning Bell' appeared in the Journal of the Decorative Arts Society in 1990 (no.14, pp.16-23), and examples were included in the Last Romantics exhibition at the Barbican in 1989, nos. 246-8, and in the Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture exhibition at the Matthiesen Gallery, London, and the Birmingham City Art Gallery, 1991-2, nos.1-2.
The present relief would appear to date from about 1896, when Bell exhibited a relief of Ariadne at the Royal Academy (no.1872), no doubt the same design and possibly the identical piece. The colouring - predominantly blue, warm red and gold - is found on other reliefs of this period, such as the pair entitled A Skein of Wool, dated 1895, which are reproduced in Rose, op.cit., p.20, fig.6. They differ both from Bell's earliest reliefs, c.1890, which have a clear pale tonality, and the later ones, c. 1904-7, which tend to be much darker in colour.
The subject of Ariadne abandoned by Theseus on Naxos, the shabby sequel to her helping him slay the Minotaur, is typical of Bell's works in this medium, most of which show female figures, singly or in groups.
We are grateful to Peter Rose for his help in preparing this entry.