Michael Fell was born in Great Dunmow, Essex, in 1939. His mother was a nurse. His father, the politician Sir Anthony Fell, was an art connoisseur who took his son around the London art galleries and museums every weekend. Fell was inspired by these early experiences to become an artist. After exploring Europe sampling the work of the great masters in Italy, Fell studied painting and printmaking at the City & Guilds of London Art School in the 1960s. He subsequently taught at the City & Guilds from the 1970s through to the late 1990s.

 

Fell’s principal mediums were etching, aquatint and oil painting, which he used to capture a wide range of social and rural scenes. A prolific sketcher, Fell was often seen drawing in cafes and at parties; returning to his studio to convert what he had observed into prints and paintings. His depictions of social scenes have a strong graphic quality to them, but the work is figurative in nature. Literature and religion were also important to Fell, a devout Catholic. A number of his prints and paintings address literary and religious themes.

 

Fell’s early art from the 1960s and 70s focused on the teaming life and the architecture of London, where he lived. A move in the 1980s to the town of Bungay in East Anglia coincided with a shift to depictions of provincial life. His passion for the arts and crafts movement also led to Fell being Chairman of the Society of Designer Craftsmen in the mid-1980s. He curated the Society’s centenary exhibition, Vision and Innovation, held in 1987 in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. Fell was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 1999.

 

In 2000 Fell moved permanently to Gascony where he set up a print and painting studio in an ancient farmhouse. The last quarter of a century of his life was spent depicting the landscapes and village life in this remote region in the south of France.

 

Further reading: 

The Art of Michael Fell, edited by Andrew Wilton, Unicorn Press, 2024.

 

Glossary

  • Aquatint

    An intaglio printmaking process and a method of achieving tone by etching a plate covered with resin dust. The acid corrodes the unprotected metal leaving only the surface protected by a speck of dust. When inked the plate will print a tone of black through to very pale grey depending on the length of time it was immersed in the acid. Its name derives from the finished print resembling a watercolour, and is a tonal rather than a linear work.

  • Drawing

    The depiction of shapes and forms on a flat surface chiefly by means of lines although colour and shading may also be included. Materials most commonly used are pencil, ink, crayon, charcoal, chalk and pastel, although other materials, including paint, can be used in combination.

  • Etching

    An intaglio process whereby a metal plate (normally copper, zinc or steel) is covered with an acid-resistant layer of rosin mixed with wax. With a sharp point, the artist draws through this ground to reveal the plate beneath. The plate is then placed in an acid bath (a water and acid solution) and the acid bites into the metal plate where the drawn lines have exposed it. The waxy ground is cleaned off and the plate is covered in ink and then wiped clean, so that ink is retained only in the etched lines. The plate can then be printed through an etching press. The strength of the etched lines depends on the length of time the plate is left in the acid bath.

  • Oil

    A medium in which ground pigments are mixed to produce a paste or liquid that can be applied to a surface by a brush or other tool; the most common oil used by artists is linseed, this can be thinned with turpentine spirit to produce a thinner and more fluid paint. The oil dries with a hard film, and the brightness of the colour is protected. Oil paints are usually opaque and traditionally used on canvas.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.