Sheila Fell: Cumberland on Canvas at Tullie House in Carlisle brings together almost a hundred works from private and public collections in the first major retrospective of the Cumbrian artist in over 30 years, whose dark and evocative paintings of the Solway plain demonstrate why L S Lowry regarded her as the greatest artist of her generation.
Born in the small mining town of Aspatria, Cumberland, Sheila Fell RA FRSA (1931 – 1979) studied at Carlisle School of Art (in Tullie House), then St Martin’s School of Art in London. She lived the rest of her life in London, although the landscape of her home region remained her main source of inspiration. Lowry became her patron and mentor, and the two artists had an enduring friendship.
Spanning the artist’s entire career, the exhibition of painting, printmaking and drawing focuses on Cumberland themes. Loans from public and private collections include Head of Sheila Fell (1954) by Frank Auerbach, a friend and major influence on Fell’s lifework; Fell’s own Haystack in a Field (1967), on loan from Tate; and the painting she was working on at the time of her death in 1979, which was recently rediscovered after years hidden away in an outbuilding.
Admission tickets can be purchased online via Tullie’s website, and are valid for 12 months.
