SHEILE FELL RA 1931 - 1979

Date Posted: 13th September 2019

Buying a work of art is a memorable occasion – especially if you queued for it on the doorstep of the gallery as many of you did.  I clearly recall buying my first Sheila Fell painting in 1991 from the Rev Geoffery Bennett’s solicitor Ian Sutcliffe in his office in Castle Street Carlisle where it was hung. This was shortly after attending the opening of Fell’s Retrospective at the Royal Academy in 1990 which then travelled the country. Subsequently a surprising number of her works went through my hands during my 25 years at Castlegate House culminating in a solo exhibition in 2006 of 45 works, all of which sold not just to local people but people all over the UK and abroad.

My life is still full of surprises. Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew and Eleanor Bradley, retired Cambridge academics who are travelling the country gathering images of works by Sheila Fell  for a proposed Catalogue Raisonne of the artist’s works. This is an ambitious project which promises to produce a wonderful reference book of her entire output. Sheila  made an outstanding number of works in her short life, most of them of her native Cumbria, but there are no comprehensive records.Tragically she died in 1979 aged 48.

If you are lucky enough to own work by Fell; painting, drawing, letter, photograph, and would like it included in the catalogue, please get in touch with Andrew Bradley on www.sheilafell.com or 07487 259988. Your contribution will be welcomed and acknowledged.