WILLIAM McCANCE Still life with a melon

MARTIN BELL (Fl 1944-1956)

Still life with fruit and bottles       

Oil on canvas 47 x 59.1cm; s & d 1955

Antique Continental 20th Century reverse frame with painted finish

Overall framed size 67.3 x 79.4cm

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A lively, painterly still life, with vibrant brushwork which animates the almost flat areas of colour. Painted whilst Bell was teaching at the Liverpool City School of Art, during and after the Second World War, the vision, colouring and technique are redolent of the period.

Biographical details

Little is known of Martin Bell (fl.1944-56), save that he was a tutor at the Liverpool City School of Art in the 1940s-50s, where he taught Josh Kirby, cover illustrator of the Terry Pratchett Discworld books, Tom Titherington – and possibly also John Lennon.