SHEILA FELL, R.A. (1931-1979)
Cumberland farm
signed Sheila Fell (lower left), signed again, inscribed and dated Sheila Fell/Cumberland farm/1958 (on the reverse)
pencil and gouache, unframed
28.5 x 40 cm (11 1/4 x 15 3/4 in)

PROVENANCE:
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Born to a coal miner and seamstress in Aspatria in 1931, Sheila Fell was an English artist devoted to depicting the landscapes near her place of birth in Cumbria. Completing her studies at Saint Martin’s School of Art under the supervision of Roland Vivian Pitchforth and John Napper, Fell went on to be the youngest ever artist to exhibit at the Beaux Arts Gallery in Bond Street, London at the age of 24. It was this sell-out show that skyrocketed Fell to success, ultimately bringing her to the attention of L. S. Lowry who went on to become a dear friend and patron.

Using her close relationship to the Cumbrian landscape to form an artistic vocabulary, Fell later stated that this devotion enabled her to ‘use it as a cross-section of life’. Incorporating warm tones and dynamic lines, Fell’s works are imbued with a universal sense of romantic nostalgia that according to John Russell Taylor ‘dares to draw us into the distant depths of old-style landscape’.

The present work is a sensitive example of Fell’s efforts to reflect the poetic ‘interdependence of earth, people and work’. Juxtaposing the predominantly natural palette of earthy browns and greens to the bright flashes of blue, Fell eloquently depicts the winding paths of the Cumbrian windswept villages in a manner that illustrates her ‘profound contact with the natural world’.