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THE STUDIO OF EILEEN BELL (1907-2005) Eileen Bell was a prolific natural artist who was still applying paint to canvas in her mid nineties. The variety of her works included in this studio sale, show her to be a rich colourist, producing still-lifes with a quirky perspective and sea and beach scenes inspired by the coast of Suffolk where she lived latterly. Bell was an artist for whom contrasts of tone and the quality of paint were important. She learned from some of the best teachers in pre- and post- Second World War London. In 1939 she joined the St.John's Wood School of Art, with teachers including the co-principals, Patrick Millard and Ernest Perry, plus Kenneth Martin. Fellow students included Michael Ayrton and John Minton, ''very much admired by me, Minton especially'', said Bell: ''I remember feeling exceedingly flattered by seeing them standing looking at a canvas of mine and Ayrton saying:'She has a very good sense of tone. She might be the English Utrillo one day.''' In 1939, she joined the Artists International Association and continued to show with it. Among her exhibitions was one shared with the distinguished Scottish painter Anne Redpath, as well as appearances at other notable London venues. These included the Young Contemporaries, Leicester Galleries, London Group and Royal Society of British Artists. In 1947, Eileen Bell resumed her studies at the Anglo-French Art Centre, which followed on from the closed St.John's Wood School. She learnt there from noted continental artists including Oskar Kokoschka and Jean Lurgat. From the late 1950s until well into the 60s Bell was a visiting designer of house interiors with the Council of Industrial Design. In the mid-1970s Eileen Bell and her husband, Randall Bell, settled in Suffolk, then nearby at Tostock, with visits to Walberswick and Aldeburgh for painting inspiration. Unfortunately, with failing eyesight, Bell's final years, of artistic output were cut short. DAVID BUCKMAN, AUTHOR,''THE DICTIONARY OF ARTISTS IN BRITAIN SINCE 1945'' To say that Eileen Bell was my main cultural influence during my formative years is no exaggeration. Mind you, she would have greeted the pronouncement with a loud 'Ha!' I was a student at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and she was, well...Eileen Bell. She took in lodgers - just the one to be precise - and I found myself, one wintry afternoon in 1969, standing on the doorstep enquiring about accommodation. She must have decided that I'd do, because for the next five years - until I got married - her front bedroom became my home. She would cook supper - I remember wonderful soups and stews, and a dish that my wife still makes for me and which is known to this day as 'Mrs Bell's Moussaka' - a flavoursome concoction of pasta, cheese sauce, mince and sultanas. My mouth waters just thinking about it. Her home-made wine - decanted from bubbling demi-johns stopped with cotton wool - was innocuous looking but lethal on the legs - the 'oak leaf' was particularly potent. But it was in the 'art department' that Eileen Bell excelled. She put it upon herself to educate me - not in a bossy, domineering way, but simply to share her passion for painting and writing, concerts and theatre, and I lapped it up. She took me to the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square to admire Fragonard's 'Girl on a Swing'. We went to the National Theatre, to Proms at the Albert Hall and concerts on the South Bank. In her garret over her husband's office, Eileen Bell painted in her own unmistakable style - occasionally throwing a canvas at me and asking 'Do you want this, Titch? Because I don't.' I was always 'Titch' to Mrs Bell. Over doors in the small Victorian cottage, were painted Bloomsbury-style reclining nudes, tempting each other with bunches of grapes - all very tasteful and decorative. Her clothes would be smudged with paint, her glasses slightly askew, and her chunky sweaters (cheaper than turning up the central heating) would give a clue as to the colour of the paint that had been most recently used. I still have a couple of her canvases and I still treasure them. Her style is free and exhilarating and she's enriched my life no end. Anyone who buys one of her paintings can share in the pleasure that I've enjoyed for more than half my life. ALAN TITCHMARSH MBE VMH

Eileen Bell (1907-2005)

Two Peacocks Chatting about the Moon

Details

Eileen Bell (1907-2005)
Two Peacocks Chatting about the Moon
signed with monogram and dated '91' (lower right), signed again and inscribed 'TWO PEACOCKS CHATTING ABOUT THE MOON/EILEEN BELL (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
30 x 36 in. (76.2 x 91.5 cm.)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. This lot is subject to storage and collection charges. **For Furniture and Decorative Objects, storage charges commence 7 days from sale. Please contact department for further details.**

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