SHEILA FELL, R.A. (1931-1979)
Houses at the bottom of a field
pencil and pastel, unframed
27 x 36.5 cm (10 5/8 x 14 3/8 in)

PROVENANCE:
Acquired from the artist by the present owner

Born to a coalminer 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 line, 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 aptly reflects Fell's concern with the 'brooding Northern landscape'. The deep earthern colours of the natural landscape act as foils to the cool tones of the town below. Through this varied palette, Fell alludes to the complex marrying of the looming landscape and the melacholic mining industry.