Biography from George's Art & Antiques:
| Rodman Pell (November 13,1909-March 13, 1995) was a direct descendant of King Edward II of England. His aristocratic title was Sixteenth Lord of The Manor of Pelham. The Pell family at one time owned all of the property (200,000 acres) today known as Westchester County, just north of New York City. The Pell family tree in the Americas dates to 1634.
Rodman Pell lived his entire life as a local resident of Greenport, New York. The Pell name in this eastern Long Island community was generally associated with seafood and the fishing industry which Rodman ran for over 50 years.
In 1968 he started a second career which was painting, for which he had no formal training or schooling. He was recovering from a heart attack and needed to occupy his free time. Painting was the non-strenuous activity that filled this void in his remaining years. His paintings are considered a primitive/naive folk art style closely resembling that of "Grandma Moses" (Anna Marie Robert Moses). For this reason Rodman Pell has been given the name "The Grandpa Moses of Greenport" by local residents. The images he produced were usually colorful and could be directly associated to a local farm, home or historical location. Rodman also painted many commissioned paintings for customers and friends.
Pell opened his own art gallery/studio that was located at 214 Atlantic Avenue, Greenport, L.I., NY. Many of his paintings that were on display had been bought as gifts and souvenirs by summer tourists, as well as local residents. He advertised his art on his business card as "Early Americana" and "Historic Folk-Lore" producing about 50 paintings a year during his prime. He became prominent as an artist when several of his paintings in the 1970's were used by U.N.I.C.E.F. for their christmas cards. the example shown above was used for the 1977/1978 Christmas U.N.I.C.E.F. greeting card sent throughout the world. In 1981 the Renault USA company commissioned Pell to compose a winter scene painting with Renault cars to be used for their holiday greeting cards. Each card that was mailed by Renault had Rodman Pell's hand written signature across the front.
Information Source: Weekender, Vol. 1, No.4, July 15, 1982. |
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