Sheila Fell

Sheila Fell studied at Saint Martin's School of Art, University of Cumbria and The Nelson Thomlinson School. The recorded working language is English. Work by Sheila Fell is recorded in the collections of Tate, Walker Art Gallery, Laing Art Gallery, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery and Abbot Hall Art Gallery. Distinctions recorded are Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

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 coal miner who worked at the Brayton Domain Colliery about a mile and a half from Aspatria. Her mother was a seamstress. When Fell was young her father lost his job at Brayton and, after working at other pits and suffering a serious leg injury, ceased to look for work entirely. At the age of six Fell contracted diphtheria, but her mother refused to have her admitted to hospital, instead caring for her at home.

After her early education at Richmond Hill School, Aspatria, Fell gained a scholarship allowing her to attend The Nelson Thomlinson School in Wigton, where the teacher responsible for art, Mrs Campbell-Taylor, 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". But she enrolled at Saint 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 at 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.

In 1955 at the age of 24, Fell held her first exhibition, becoming the youngest ever artist to exhibit at the Beaux Arts Gallery in Bond Street, London. In December 1955, she appeared on the ten-minute 'Highlight' television 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 permanently in Cumberland but she frequently visited her family there, and its landscape dominated her work for the rest of her life. That first exhibition in London sold out and brought Fell to the attention of artist L. S. Lowry, who bought two paintings and a drawing, creating a friendship that would last for many years. Lowry gave Fell all the help he could; he advised and encouraged her, and gave financial support by buying around twenty of her paintings and giving 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. He hailed her as the greatest landscape painter of her generation. Although never married, Fell had a daughter Anna in 1958, by the Greek sculptor Takis Vassilakis.

• Illustration — Sheila Fell Memorial at Aspatria In December 1979, Hunter Davies 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 had died of alcohol poisoning, on 15 December, at her London flat. She was 48 years of age.

• 1955 Beaux Arts Gallery • 1958 Beaux Arts Gallery • 1960 Beaux Arts Gallery • 1961 The Derwent Centre, Cockermouth • 1962 Middlesbrough Art Gallery • 1962 Beaux Arts Gallery • 1964 Maryport Education Settlement, Cumberland • 1964 Beaux Arts Gallery • 1965 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal • 1965 Queen Square Gallery, Leeds • 1967 Stone Gallery, Newcastle upon 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 Gallery • 2006 Castlegate Gallery, Cockermouth • 2011 Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal • 2014 Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth • 2021 Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth • 2024 Tullie House Gallery, Carlisle

Fell 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. Her obituary writer in The Times described her work, by relating back to her childhood in Cumberland, as having both ethical and aesthetic weight. Several major artists influenced her style, Cézanne, Constant Permeke, Auerbach and Van Gogh are all evident in parts of her early work.

Fell's paintings have continued to attract interest in auction houses. A sale of three paintings in 2025, held by the estate of a family friend in Hexham, came to a total of £50,000, when two of them had been originally purchased from the artist for relatively modest sums. The auctioneer said afterwards: “The strength of bidding for Sheila Fell confirms her place at the forefront of 20th century British art. These results reflect the growing recognition of her unique vision and the rarity of her work.”

• Tate Gallery, London (three paintings) • Contemporary Art Society, London • Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool • Atkinson Art Gallery and Library, Southport • Carlisle Art Gallery • Sunderland Art Gallery • Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal • Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne • Swindon Art Gallery • Huddersfield Art Gallery