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Biography

Leland Bell was born in Cambridge, Maryland in 1922 to Russian-Jewish parents. In high school he became impassioned by painting and Jazz. It was at the Phillip's Collection in Washington, DC. that Leland first galvanized his life-long relationship with the tradition of painting and with museums; it was in museums that he taught himself and others.

After graduating from high school he left home for Provincetown, Massachusetts to be near the painter Karl Knaths, and then New York City, where he worked various jobs and befriended his painting idols. Leland met and married Louisa Matthiasdottir in 1944. They had Temma, their only child in 1945.

Leland lived and worked as a dedicated painter in New York City, where he also became a well-loved and respected painting teacher and lecturer. He and his wife Louisa spent extended periods of time in Paris, France and Reykjavík, Iceland.

Leland Bell was a self-taught painter whose passion for the discipline of painting has inspired and influenced many. He was also a fierce advocate for artists that he admired like Karl Knaths, Mondrian, Jean Helion and Andre Derain. Leland died in 1991.

Photographs

Bibliography

Books and Exhibition Catalogues

A Family of Artists: Leland Bell, Louisa Matthiasdottir, TemmaBell, introduction by Petrun Petursdottir and essays by Adalsteinn Ingolfsson, Jed Perl, and Nicholas Fox Weber. TheHafnarfjordur Institute of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjordur,Iceland, 2000.

Leland Bell, introduction by R.B. Kitaj. Theo Waddington Gallery, London, 1980.

Leland Bell/ Louisa Matthiasdottir. Austin Arts Center,Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, 1967.

Leland Bell, Louisa Matthiasdottir, Temma Bell, A Family of Painters introduction by Lawrence Campbell. The Canton Art Institute, Canton, Ohio, 1973.

Louisa Matthiasdottir, Jed Perl,editor, with extended references to Bell in contributions by Jed Perl and Martica Sawin. Nesutgafan Publishing, Reykjavik, Iceland, distributed in the U.S. by Hudson Hills Press, New York, 1999.

Nicholas Fox Weber. Leland Bell. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986.

Still Lifes from a Shared Life, introduction by Jon Proppe and Martica Sawin. The Hafnarfjordur Institute of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, 2007.

Articles by Leland Bell

"The Case for Derain as an Immortal." ArtNews S9 (May 1960): 22-27, 61-62.

"Esthetics Replaced by Sociology?" Art News 68 (January 1970): 59.

"Helion Paints the Impossible." ArtNews 63 (November 1964): 36-37, 66-67.

Selected Articles and Reviews

Ashbery, John. "Bell: Virtuosity without Self-Interest" ArtNews 68 (February 1970): 44-45, 64-67.

Bass, Ruth. "Leland Bell at Robert Schoelkopf." ArtNews 89 (September 1990): 165.

Bass, Ruth. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. ArtNews 82 (Summer 1983): 200.

Bullard, CeCe. "Artists Draw on Talent, Potential," review of Drawing on Friendship exhibition at Reynolds Gallery. Richmond Times Dispatch, March 30, 1994.

Burton, Scott. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. ArtNews 67 (April 1968): 8-10.

Campbell, Lawrence. "Five Americans Face Reality." ArtNews 62 (September 1963): 25-27, 54.

Campbell, Lawrence. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. ArtNews 65 (March 1966): 11.

Campbell, Lawrence. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. ArtNews 73 (May 1974): 100-102.

Fleming, Lee. Review of Phillips Collection retrospective exhibition. ArtNews 86 (May 1987): 49-50.

Forgey, Benjamin. "The Exacting Tensions of Leland Bell; A Striking Retrospective at the Phillips." The Washington Post, January 24, 198

Fort, Ilene Susan. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. ArtsMagazine 57 (June 1983): 36.

Gruen, John. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. -NewYork Herald Tribune Sunday Magazine, April 26, 1964.

Henry, Gerrit. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. Artin America, 71 (October 1983): 179.

Hess, Thomas B. "U.S. Painting: Some Recent Directions." ArtNews Annual 25 (1956) 74-98,174-80.

Hollander, John. "Leland Bell: Gesture and Trope." Artin America 7: part 2 (July 1987) 113-19.

Johnson, Kenneth. Review of exhibition at Center for Figurative Painting. The New York Times, December 8, 2000.

Kessler, Pamela. "Leland Bell's Painterly Pauses." TheWashington Post, January 30, 1987.

Kramer, Hilton. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. The New, York Times, February 26, 1966.

Kramer, Hilton. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. The New York Times, May 21, 1976.

Matter, Mercedes. "Leland Bell, 1922-1991 " New York Studio School annual newsletter, 1992: 4.

Mellow, James R. Review of exhibition at Poindexter Gallery. ArtsMagazine 31 (April 1957): 59.

Mellow, James R. "When 'What' IS as Important as 'How.''' TheNew York Times, March 1, 1970.

Neumann, Thomas. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. Art News 63 (April 1964): 12.

Obituary. Art in America 79 (November 1991): 174. Obituary. Art News 90 (November 1991): 31.

Perl, Jed "The Life of the Object: Still Life Painting Today." Arts Magazine 52, part 1 (December 1977): 124-28.

Perl, Jed. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. Arts MagazinE : ~ part 2 (May 1978): 16.

Perl, Jed. "The Pictures and Passions of Leland Bell." The New Criterion 5, part 2 (April 1987): 57-61.

Perl, Jed. "Successes." The New Criterion 8 (May 1990): 52-57.

Perl, Jed. "Leland Bell, 1922-1991." The New Criterion 10 (November 1991): 79-80.

Preston, Stuart. "A Tour of Variety Fair." The NewYork Times, September 22, 1963.

Preston, Stuart. "Beholder's Eye." The New York Times, April 19, 1964.

Ratcliff, Carter. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. Art International 14 (May 1970): 76.

Raynor, Vivien. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. ArtsMagazine 38 (September 1964): 70.

Raynor, Vivien. "Smooth Canvases at Leland Bell Exhibit," review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. The New York Times, April 1, 1983.

-------------------------"Reconfiguring the New York School," review of exhibition at Center for Figurative Painting, New York. The New Yorker (January 8, 2001): 16-17.

Sawin, Martica "Good Painting -No Label." Arts Magazine 37 (September 1963) 37-41.

Sawin, Martica. "Abstract Roots of Contemporary Representation." Arts Magazine 50 (June 1976): 106-9.

Schuyler, James. "Bell Paints a Picture." Art News 57(September 1958): 42-45.

Smith, Roberta. "Leland Bell, a Figurative Painter, Teacher and Lecturer, Dies at 69." The New York Times, September 20, 1991.

Smith, Roberta. Review of exhibition at Salander·O'Reilly Galleries. The New York Times, October 15, 1993.

Swain, Richard. Review of exhibition at Schoelkopf Gallery. Arts Magazine 40 (May 1966): 65.

Tillim, Sidney. Review of exhibition at Zabriskie Gallery. Arts Magazine 35 (February 1961): 47-49.

Wilkin, Karen. "At the Galleries." Partisan Review 61 (Winter 1994): 132-49.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

--------------------Exhibition Center, New York

1955

Hansa Gallery, New York

1957

Poindexter Gallery, New York

1959

Zabriskie Gallery, New York