Sheila Fell
Encyclopedia
Sheila Fell was an English artist. She was born at Aspatria
, Cumberland
in 1931, and although she lived in London for the greater part of her life, she devoted her career to painting and drawing places close to her place of birth. The Cumberland landscape would always remain her chief influence, inspiration and theme.
. After leaving the colliery he took up employment in a flour mill, and during the Second World War he served as a dock policeman. Jack died in 1976 at the age of 81.
at Wigton
, where the teacher responsible for art, Mrs Campbell-Taylor, recognised her ability and encouraged her to go to art college. At the age of 16 she enrolled at the Carlisle School of Art (1947–1949), then housed in Tullie House. She later described this experience as a ‘dismal disaster’. She explained: “They said I would never make a painter and should do textile design.” After rejecting their advice she enrolled at St. Martin's School of Art
(1949–1951) where she studied under Roland Vivian Pitchforth and John Napper. She gained her National Diploma in Design at the age of 21, and then stayed on for a further twelve months to complete a post graduate course. Fell augmented the grant received from Cumberland County Council by working in a Night Club and also the National Gallery
. During her college years she exhibited her work in the Young Contemporaries Show in 1952 and 1953. After leaving college, she worked for a while as a freelance painter during the day, did head modelling, and worked in a café at night. Success came quickly, for in 1966 at the age of 24, she held her first exhibition, becoming the youngest ever artist to exhibit at the Beaux Arts Gallery
in Bond Street
, London. In December 1955, television viewers had a nice surprise when she appeared on the ten minute ‘Highlight' programme, which spotlighted the personalities of the day. She joined the teaching staff of Chelsea School of Art in 1958. She would never return to live in Cumberland
but its landscape dominated her work for the rest of her life,
, who bought two paintings and a drawing, bringing a friendship that would last for many years. Lowry gave her all the help he could, he advised, encouraged, sympathised, and above all bought her pictures, some twenty of them in total, many later donated to international galleries. He made her a weekly allowance of £3 and would often visit her when she returned home to Aspatria for her regular holidays. They would go out to the countryside to paint. Lowry got on well with her parents and always called her "Miss Fell", until shortly before his death. Success never changed her; she had few pretensions of grandeur, as observed by the photographer Lord Kilbracken, who wrote in The Tatler: “She still smokes Woodbines, is still as likely to eat in a workingman’s café and still spends less on clothes than the average typist.”. Although never married, she had a daughter Anna in 1958, by the Greek sculptor Takis Vassilakis.
, Auerbach
and Van Gogh are all evident in parts of her early work.
began his article for the Sunday Times: “Sheila Fell lives at the top of a long flight of stairs in Chelsea
.” He ended it with Fell's own words. “I don’t think of myself as a woman artist. Artists are either good or bad. I also intend to live until 104. I’ve promised myself I will. It’s what keeps me going when I worry if I’ll ever have time to do all the paintings in my head.” However, by the time the article appeared she was already dead. The inquest into her death reported that she died of alcohol poisoning. She was 48 years of age.
painting exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery
, Liverpool. The competition drew 3,000 entries, short listed to 250. Fell, the only female winner, came second in the junior section and picked up a cheque for £250. In 1959, she received a ‘Boise’ travelling scholarship. Although she travelled extensively throughout Italy
, Greece
, Switzerland
and France
the period was not a success. As she told one enquirer: “I have an obsession about Cumberland. I have tried painting in other parts of the world, particularly Greece, but it just doesn’t work.” In 1967, she was awarded an Arts Council
Purchase Award. In 1969 she was elected Associate Member of the Royal Academy
(A.R.A.) and a full membership (R.A.) five years later.
Aspatria
Aspatria is a small town and civil parish in Cumbria, England, and lies half way between Maryport and Wigton, on the A596. Historically within Cumberland, it is about away from the coast. It is approximately seven miles from the northern boundary of the Lake District, and located to the south east...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
in 1931, and although she lived in London for the greater part of her life, she devoted her career to painting and drawing places close to her place of birth. The Cumberland landscape would always remain her chief influence, inspiration and theme.
Early beginnings
Sheila Fell was born into a poor household at Aspatria in 1931, the only child of John (Jack) and Anne Fell. Her father was a coalminer and her mother a seamstress. Jack first went down the pit at the age of 14, and was obliged to return to mining, before he had fully recovered from the affects of mustard gas poisening during the First World War. To make matters worse he later developed SilicosisSilicosis
Silicosis, also known as Potter's rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs...
. After leaving the colliery he took up employment in a flour mill, and during the Second World War he served as a dock policeman. Jack died in 1976 at the age of 81.
Education
After her early education at Richmond Hill School, Aspatria, Fell gained a scholarship allowing her to attend the Nelson Thomlinson, Grammar SchoolGrammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
at Wigton
Wigton
Wigton is a small market town and civil parish outside the Lake District, in the administrative county of Cumbria in England, and traditionally in Cumberland. It is the bustling and thriving centre of the Solway Plain, situated between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast...
, where the teacher responsible for art, Mrs Campbell-Taylor, recognised her ability and encouraged her to go to art college. At the age of 16 she enrolled at the Carlisle School of Art (1947–1949), then housed in Tullie House. She later described this experience as a ‘dismal disaster’. She explained: “They said I would never make a painter and should do textile design.” After rejecting their advice she enrolled at St. Martin's School of Art
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. The school has an outstanding international reputation, and is considered one of the world's leading art and design institutions...
(1949–1951) where she studied under Roland Vivian Pitchforth and John Napper. She gained her National Diploma in Design at the age of 21, and then stayed on for a further twelve months to complete a post graduate course. Fell augmented the grant received from Cumberland County Council by working in a Night Club and also the National Gallery
National gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
. During her college years she exhibited her work in the Young Contemporaries Show in 1952 and 1953. After leaving college, she worked for a while as a freelance painter during the day, did head modelling, and worked in a café at night. Success came quickly, for in 1966 at the age of 24, she held her first exhibition, becoming the youngest ever artist to exhibit at the Beaux Arts Gallery
Beaux Arts Gallery
Beaux Arts Gallery, London, England, founded in 1923 and closed in 1965, was known as a preeminent center for promoting avant-garde art.Founded and operated by portrait sculptor Frederick Lessore in 1923, the gallery was run by his wife Helen Lessore, a painter, until it closed in 1965...
in Bond Street
Bond Street
Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...
, London. In December 1955, television viewers had a nice surprise when she appeared on the ten minute ‘Highlight' programme, which spotlighted the personalities of the day. She joined the teaching staff of Chelsea School of Art in 1958. She would never return to live in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
but its landscape dominated her work for the rest of her life,
Personal life
Not only did her first exhibition in London completely sell out but it brought her to the attention of the esteemed artist L. S. LowryL. S. Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist born in Barrett Street, Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years at 117 Station Road , opposite St...
, who bought two paintings and a drawing, bringing a friendship that would last for many years. Lowry gave her all the help he could, he advised, encouraged, sympathised, and above all bought her pictures, some twenty of them in total, many later donated to international galleries. He made her a weekly allowance of £3 and would often visit her when she returned home to Aspatria for her regular holidays. They would go out to the countryside to paint. Lowry got on well with her parents and always called her "Miss Fell", until shortly before his death. Success never changed her; she had few pretensions of grandeur, as observed by the photographer Lord Kilbracken, who wrote in The Tatler: “She still smokes Woodbines, is still as likely to eat in a workingman’s café and still spends less on clothes than the average typist.”. Although never married, she had a daughter Anna in 1958, by the Greek sculptor Takis Vassilakis.
Style and influences
Sheila Fell never painted romantic pictures of nature or pretty chocolate box pictures of sunny days among the lakes and fells of her native countryside, but used powerful, melancholy oils of living landscape, presided over by huge brooding mountains and dark looming clouds. Colour was always less important than tone, she painted the hills and the seas of the area she loved so well, she painted the earth and those who worked it, depicting rich brown soils, piles of potatoes, small groups of driven cattle, indistinguishable farm buildings and terraced houses running along the streets of Aspatria. Several major artists influenced her style, Cezanne, Constant PermekeConstant Permeke
Constant Permeke was a Belgian painter and sculptor who is considered the leading figure of Flemish expressionism.Permeke was born in Antwerp but when he was six years old the family moved to Ostend, where his father became curator of the Municipal Museum of Arts. Permeke went to school in Bruges...
, Auerbach
Frank Auerbach
Frank Helmut Auerbach is a painter born in Germany although he has been a naturalised British citizen since 1947.-Biography:Auerbach was born in Berlin, the son of Max Auerbach, a patent lawyer, and Charlotte Nora Burchardt, who had trained as an artist...
and Van Gogh are all evident in parts of her early work.
Death
In December 1979, Hunter DaviesHunter Davies
Edward Hunter Davies is a prolific British author, journalist and broadcaster, perhaps best known for writing the only authorised biography of The Beatles.- Early life :...
began his article for the Sunday Times: “Sheila Fell lives at the top of a long flight of stairs in Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
.” He ended it with Fell's own words. “I don’t think of myself as a woman artist. Artists are either good or bad. I also intend to live until 104. I’ve promised myself I will. It’s what keeps me going when I worry if I’ll ever have time to do all the paintings in my head.” However, by the time the article appeared she was already dead. The inquest into her death reported that she died of alcohol poisoning. She was 48 years of age.
Awards
Fell’s first major award came in October 1957 after she entered a painting in the John MooresJohn Moores (merchant)
Sir John Moores CBE was a British businessman and philanthropist most famous for the founding of the now defunct Littlewoods retail company that was located in Liverpool, England.-Early years:...
painting exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
, Liverpool. The competition drew 3,000 entries, short listed to 250. Fell, the only female winner, came second in the junior section and picked up a cheque for £250. In 1959, she received a ‘Boise’ travelling scholarship. Although she travelled extensively throughout Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
the period was not a success. As she told one enquirer: “I have an obsession about Cumberland. I have tried painting in other parts of the world, particularly Greece, but it just doesn’t work.” In 1967, she was awarded an Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
Purchase Award. In 1969 she was elected Associate Member of the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
(A.R.A.) and a full membership (R.A.) five years later.
Exhibitions
- 1955 Beaux Arts GalleryBeaux Arts GalleryBeaux Arts Gallery, London, England, founded in 1923 and closed in 1965, was known as a preeminent center for promoting avant-garde art.Founded and operated by portrait sculptor Frederick Lessore in 1923, the gallery was run by his wife Helen Lessore, a painter, until it closed in 1965...
- 1958 Beaux Arts Gallery
- 1960 Beaux Arts Gallery
- 1961 The Derwent Centre, CockermouthCockermouth-History:The Romans created a fort at Derventio, now the adjoining village of Papcastle, to protect the river crossing, which had become located on a major route for troops heading towards Hadrian's Wall....
- 1962 Middlesbrough Art Gallery
- 1962 Beaux Arts Gallery
- 1964 MaryportMaryportMaryport is a town and civil parish within the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, in the historic county of Cumberland. It is located on the A596 road north of Workington, and is the southernmost town on the Solway Firth. Maryport railway station is on the Cumbrian Coast Line. The town is in...
Education Settlement, Cumberland - 1964 Beaux Arts Gallery
- 1965 Abbot Hall Art GalleryAbbot Hall Art GalleryAbbot Hall Art Gallery is a museum and gallery in Kendal, England. Abbot Hall was built in 1759 by Colonel George Wilson, the second son of Daniel Wilson of Dallam Tower, a large house and country estate nearby. It was built on the site of the old Abbot’s Hall, roughly where the museum is today...
, KendalKendalKendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England... - 1965 Queen Square Gallery, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
- 1967 Stone Gallery, Newcastle Upon TyneNewcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
- 1969 Stone Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne
- 1969 Also exhibited in Arts Council and Contemporary Arts Society touring exhibition
- 1979 New Grafton Gallery, London
- 1981 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
- 1981 Salford Art GallerySalford Museum and Art GallerySalford Museum and Art Gallery, in Peel Park, Salford, Greater Manchester, first opened to the public in November 1850 as the "Royal Museum & Public Library". One of the most important appreciation is that it serves as the first public library in the UK to provide free access to people...
- 2006 Castlegate Gallery, Cockermouth
- 2011 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
Official purchases and public collections
- Tate GalleryTate GalleryThe Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London (3 paintings) - Contemporary Art Society, London
- Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
- Atkinson Art Gallery, SouthportSouthportSouthport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
- Carlisle Art Gallery
- Sunderland Art GallerySunderland Art GalleryThe Sunderland Art Gallery is an art gallery based within the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens centre, in Sunderland City Centre.The collection of paintings includes works by the British artist, L.S. Lowry, many with local significance. For example, 'River Wear at Sunderland' and 'Girl in a...
- Abbot Hall Art Gallery Kendal
- Laing Art GalleryLaing Art GalleryThe Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England is located on New Bridge Street. It was opened in 1904 and is now managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums and sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In front of the gallery is the Blue Carpet.The gallery holds oil paintings,...
, Newcastle Upon Tyne - Swindon Art GallerySwindon Art GallerySwindon Art Gallery is located in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It includes a collection of 20th-century British art, one of the best in the country outside London. The collection was established in 1944 by a local benefactor, H.J.P...
Selected paintings
- 1955 Aspatria wedding
- 1955 Miners
- 1958 Farm Land at Aspatria
- 1958 Portrait of Anna Fell
- 1959 Cumbrian village under snow
- 1961 Snowscape IV Tate Gallery collection
- 1964 Men working in a cornfield
- 1965 Maryport Tate Gallery Collection
- 1965 Skiddaw summer
- 1967 Haystacks in a field Tate Gallery collection
- 1970 Houses in winter
- 1979 Potato pick-ing-clouds
- 1979 Christmas