Design and Art Australia Online

George Henry Frederick Bell was born on 1 December 1878 at Kew, Victoria, the fourth child of George Bell and Clara, née Barlow. After attending Kew High School he enrolled at the National Gallery School, where between 1896 and 1903 he studied under Frederick McCubbin and then the painting master Bernard Hall. He also studied privately with George Coates in his studio above the Melbourne Town Hall around 1895-96. During these years at the gallery school Bell formed friendships with many artists including Hugh Ramsay, Norman Macgeorge and James Quinn, and also developed what was to be a lifelong dislike of Max Meldrum. Whilst Bell’s father had expected his son to study law, this did not preclude him from financially supporting his artistic ambitions. Aside from paying for Bell’s tuition, he further provided his son with the funds for travel; and so, unlike many other students Bell had the freedom to venture abroad, without relying on prizes such as the Gallery School’s Travelling Scholarship. Bell departed Melbourne on 19 April 1904 on the Afric. He spent six weeks in London before leaving for Paris, where he remained until 1906. Here, he studied under Jean Paul Laurens at Julian’s atelier, and later at the schools of Castelucha and Colarossi. Bell continued to paint in the tonal realist style that he had been taught by Hall, however he slowly began to question academic methods, including the insistence that the work of art must have a purpose outside of merely representing the subject. J.S. MacDonald later commented that Bell remained unsatisfied with what he was being taught, and so “gave up for good the schools…and within his own studio began to work out the problems for himself” (Art in Australia, Dec. 1921).

In the summer of 1906 Bell travelled to Italy, visiting Rome, Pisa and Venice, believing that viewing the works of the Old Masters was a significant part of an artist’s development, and he was particularly inspired by Titian and Tintoretto. Following this trip he visited the artists’ colony at Étaples, before spending some of 1907 at St Ives. St Ives was one of the most popular artists’ colonies, and here he befriended and worked with artists including the British Stanhope Forbes and the Australian Will Ashton. In 1907 Bell also became a founding member of the Modern Society of Portrait Painters in London, a group he was likely introduced to by George Lambert, and where he exhibited until 1915. Bell became close friends with Lambert when he settled in London in 1908, and they often attended concerts together; it was through him that Bell joined the Chelsea Arts Club later that year. This club was popular with Australians, and here Bell both made and renewed friendships with artists including Fred Leist, George Coates and Dora Meeson and Will Dyson and his wife Ruby Lindsay. From 1908 Bell was also close friends with the English artist Philip Connard, with whom he went on painting trips, documented in Portrait of Philip Connard of 1912. Such friendships aided Bell’s efforts to establish his reputation, and parallel to the growth in his social networks was his success in exhibiting. Of particular importance was his acceptance at the 1908 Royal Academy, a recognition that elevated his standing in the London art world. Bell also exhibited at the Allied Artists Association 1908 and 1909, the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool 1908 and 1913, the Salon 1911 and 1913, The Royal Institute Of Portrait Painters 1913 and the New English Art Club 1914.


During the First World War Bell was declared medically unfit to enlist, and so he taught at Highfield School in Liphook, before being employed as a munitions worker in 1917. In 1918 he became an official war artist for the 4th Division of the Australian Imperial Force. Bell reached the Western Front too late to witness actual combat, although he was there for the signing of the armistice. Hence, his works document the aftermath of battle, illustrating ravaged landscapes and ruined buildings. Bell completed twelve portraits of men of the division, and also represented the everyday lives of the soldiers: their equipment, their surroundings and their social activities, such as gambling. Dawn at Hamel 4th July 1918 was a major large-scale war painting Bell undertook, which he completed in Australia in 1920.


In December 1919 Bell returned to Australia due to his poor health. On 21 February 1922 he married Edith Lucy Antoinette Hobbs, an English actress whom he had met in England in 1915. They moved to 9 Selbourne Road Toorak, into a house and studio built for them by Bell’s cousin Marcus Barlow, and where he was to live for the rest of his life. Their only child Antoinette was born in December 1922. Through the 1920s Bell played the viola in the University Conservatorium Orchestra and later the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; like many artists Bell was also trained in music, and whilst at the Gallery School he had studied the violin with Victor and Alberto Zelman, and also played in the Hawthorn Orchestra. He and Edith entertained often, with dinner parties held for patrons and friends, and sometimes hosting the 'Thursday Club’, which began around 1926-27, with artists including Will Dyson and Eric Thake visiting Bell’s studio to sketch.


From his return to Australia in 1919 Bell quickly became involved in the community of artists, being elected to the council of the Victorian Artists’ Society and a founder of the Twenty Melbourne Painters. In 1922 he joined the council of the newly formed Australian Art Association, and served as its president between 1924 and 1926. He also took up writing, and was a frequent critic for the Melbourne Herald’s Sun News-Pictorial from 1923 to 1950. Bell gave private lessons at his studio in Toorak, and in 1925 taught at the Gallery School whilst the drawing master William McInnes was abroad. Following his return to Australia Bell’s art remained conservative, evident in his tonal works such as Farmyard of 1921, Toinette of 1925 and The Green Turban of 1926. However, he followed developments in Europe, and his interest in Modernism became increasingly pronounced by the 1930s.


In February 1932 Bell and Arnold Shore opened the Bourke St art school in Melbourne, with the intention of teaching modern art. Bell’s own work reveals certain stylistic changes, with images such as his Self Portrait of 1932 displaying a consideration of line and form, and a growing emphasis on modelling through colour. Later that year Bell formed the Contemporary Group of Melbourne, promoting the exhibition of modern art. This interest and a growing dissatisfaction with the stagnation of Australian art led to Bell’s return to Europe in 1934, where he spent the next sixteen months absorbing new approaches to painting. Bell visited the Tate galleries, involved himself in the New English Art Club and studied the writings and theories of Clive Bell and Roger Fry. Importantly, he decided to enrol in lessons in London, studying drawing at the Grosvenor school with Iain MacNab, with whom he travelled to Spain with in 1935. This trip is documented in works such as Spanish Landscape, which reveals his efforts to unite sound draughtsmanship with a more personal perception of form and modelling. Shortly after Bell’s return, Shore renounced their partnership in 1936, and Bell continued teaching at the school until 1939.

When Bell returned to Melbourne in late 1935, it was with an altered approach to his practice and a dedication to promoting modern art. In London, Bell had absorbed the influence of the Post-Impressionists, especially Cézanne, whose exploration of space and form is evident in Bell’s works such as The Bathers of 1936. A subject continually revisited by Cézanne, Bell used the female nudes to contemplate the form of the body and its location in space, creating substantial, almost monumental figures that dominate the picture space. Bell actively promoted the acceptance of modern art, encouraging an understanding of the importance of the changes in art in Europe of the past fifty years. In 1937 Bell organised a loan exhibition of works of modern art by artists outside Australia, which was held at the National Gallery of Victoria between October and November. The relatively small group of fifty-two works was nonetheless an important collection, and included paintings by van Gogh and also a Picasso. In 1937, Bell emerged as a key opponent to Sir Robert Menzies in the plan to establish the Australian Academy of Art. Bell vehemently opposed the Academy, and in response he formed the Contemporary Art Society in July 1938, of which he was the president and Rupert Bunny the vice president. However, following internal conflicts amongst the members, largely centred on the position of laymen within the group, Bell resigned in 1940. Along with many others who followed his withdrawal in 1941 Bell formed another group, the Melbourne Contemporary Artists, and then in 1949 he created the George Bell group. These groups that Bell was a part of attest to the significance of his presence in the Australian art community, and reveal that he was a respected figure whose opinion was sought after.

Whilst Bell maintained a strong presence in the art community as a practicing artist, engaging in debates and firmly promoting modernism, he remains best known for his role as a teacher. Bell taught for over four decades, shaping the careers of countless students, some of the most notable including Peter Purves-Smith, Russell Drysdale, Sali Herman and Fred Williams. He was an influential teacher in not insisting that his students learn and echo his personal style, but discover their own creativity. Bell was actively opposed to Meldrum’s teaching, especially the practice of copying. He encouraged experimentation, and his classes were not fixed, with students trying different mediums and using various subjects. Bell himself continued to paint, however the changes in his art as a whole are somewhat difficult to track as he reworked many canvases, destroyed many of his early works and left many undated. Bell’s influence was recognised with the awarding of an O.B.E. in January 1966. He died at his Toorak home on 22 October 1966, survived by his wife and daughter.

Writers:

Robertson, Kate Note:

Date written:

2011

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed