Born in Kew, 1878, George Fredrick Henry Bell was the son of George Bell and his wife, Clara Barlow.
George Bell was educated at Kew High School, and although Bell’s father expected him to study law, this did not stop his father from supporting his artistic ambitions, including paying for Bell’s tuition and also funds for him to travel.
Bell studied art at the National Gallery of Victorian Art School under Bernard Hall & Fredrick McCubbin between 1895 to 1903 & studied privately under George Coats in his Melbourne Town Hall studio from 1895-96.
Bell met many artists during his time at the National Gallery School, including Hugh Ramsay, James Quinn and Norman Macgeorge.
Time abroad
Bell continued his studies in art in Paris in 1904-06 under Jean-Paul Laurens and later the art schools Castelucha and Colarossi.
In 1906 he visited Rome, Pisa and Venice, viewing works by Old Masters which he believed was important part of an artist development.
Following this trip, he visited the artist colony in Étaples before moving on to St Ives in 1907.
Here in St Ives, a popular artist colony, he met Stanhope Forbes and Will Ashton.
Bell was a foundation member of the Modern Society of Portrait Painters in 1907 and became a member of the Chelsea Arts Club in 1908.
At the Chelsea Arts Club, he made and renewed friendships with artists including Fred Leist, George Coates and Dora Meeson and Will Dyson and his wife, Ruby Lindsay.
These friendships and also being accepted into the Royal Academy in 1908 contributed significantly to the growth in his social networks and also to his exhibition successes.
Wartime and return to Australia
During the 1st World War, Bell worked as a teacher first in Liphook, then in a munitions factory in 1917 and then from October 1918 to the end of 1919, he was a war artist in the 4th division of the Australian Imperial Forces.
One of Bells major war paintings created in the Battle of Hamel, “Dawn at Hamel” in 1918, which was completed in Australia in 1920, is now hanging in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
In February 1922, George Bell married Edith Lucy Antoinette Hobbs at the Congregational Church, Elsternwick, and they moved to their house built for them by Bell’s cousin Marcus Barlow in Toorak.
Bell was elected to the council of the Victorian Artists Society in 1919, was also the founder of the Twenty Melbourne painters and joined the council of the newly formed Australian Art Association in 1922.
Bell gave private teaching lessons in his home studio and from 1923 worked as a critic for the Sun News-Pictorial, whom he was a critic for until 1950.
Bell-Shore School
In 1932 Bell, along with Arnold Shore, opened an art school in Melbourne, teaching modern art and later in that same year, Bell formed the Contemporary Artist Group of Melbourne.
He left the school for Europe in 1934-35 for sixteen months to absorb new approaches to art, visiting the Tate galleries and involving himself with the New English Art Club.
Bell returned to Melbourne in late 1935, In the following year after Bell’s return to Melbourne, Shore withdrew from the partnership in 1936, however Bell continued to teach at the school until 1939.
Over his 40 years as an art teacher, Bell taught hundreds of students, which included:
- Eric Thake.
- Russell Drysdale.
- Sali Herman.
- Peter Purves Smith
- and influenced a great many others including; Albert Tucker, Vic O’Connor and Adrian Lawlor.
He also taught private classes, including with Fred Williams.
In 1937 Bell emerged as a critical opponent to Sir Robert Menzies attempt to establish an equivalent to the Royal Academy (Australian Academy of Art).
In 1938 Bell took the lead when he formed the Contemporary Art Society, becoming its founding president, in 1940 Bell seceded the society, and about 80 followers also seceded in 1941, Bell founding the Melbourne Contemporary Artist after being distressed by the activities of the layman within the Contemporary Art Society.
He also created the George Bell group in 1949.
George bell regularly painted through this career but destroyed many of his early works, reworked many of his canvases and left many paintings undated.
Bell’s contribution to art was recognised in 1966 when he was appointed an Order Of The British Empire and unfortunately died that same year.
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Further Reading
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bell-george-frederick-henry-5192
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bell_(painter)
https://www.daao.org.au/bio/george-frederick-henry-bell/biography/
