 A photo-realist painter of large-scale still life, Charles Bell sought
with his painting to bring pictorial majesty and wonder to the
mundane. Much of his subject matter was vintage toys, gumball
machines, and
dolls and action figures, many of them arranged in classical
poses. He was based in New York City and born in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. He created work in a scale as much as ten times life
size with clear and vibrant colors.
Bell worked out of his New York loft studio on West
Broadway. In his life time he created almost 200 works and wished
to have his work reproduced and distributed as widely as possible for
as long as possible.
Bell died of lymphoma on April 1, 1995, at age 60. He had AIDS at
the time of his death. His partner of 22 years, interior
decorator, Willard Ching, died of AIDS-related illness three years
earlier, in 1993.
After Bell's death, Louis K. Meisel
of the Louis K. Meisel Gallery became the owner of all intellectual
property rights to the body of art created by Charles Bell.
Bell's works are housed in the collections of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, The Solomon R. Guggeheim Museum, and the Hiroshima City
Museum of Contemporary Art.
Sources:
Wikipedia: Charles Bell. Reference is Henry Geldzahler, Charles Bell: The Complete Works, 1970-1990
Louis K. Meisel
Who's Who in American Art, Jacques Cattell Press, 1976. |