Trevor Bell - Thrust

TREVOR BELL THRUST

All works may be viewed online atwww.waterhousedodd.com/exhibitions/trevor_belland are available for purchase on receipt of this catalogueCover image (detail) Back cover imageBlue Radial, 1985 Poppy, 2012Oil on linen96 x 140 in / 244 x 355 cm Acrylic on panel 33 x 35.5 in / 86 x 90 cm

TREVOR BELLTHRUST24th June-18th July 2015WATERHOUSE & DODD960 Madison Avenue 2nd FlNew York, NY 10021+1 212 717 [email protected]

THRUSTThe title of our exhibition, Thrust, is taken from a large shaped painting featured in the show. Theword 'thrust' seems to perfectly describe Bell's practice. It implies progression and a barelycontained drive towards a goal. The word also conveys a sense of power, scale and virility. Allthese attributes are evident, in one way or another, in the paintings Bell has producedthroughout his long career. We are not presenting a retrospective of Bell's oeuvre. Instead we aretrying to shed light on the key themes that have always informed his work and in doing so it isnecessary to exhibit key paintings from many different periods, almost all of which are sourceddirectly from the artist’s studio. Like many artists of his generation, too much emphasis is placedon early experimentation and not enough consideration is given to the later periods that are noless vital. We particularly wanted to exhibit works dating from the time Bell spent in Florida,partly because these works have rarely been seen in Britain or New York and partly because theunique environment and experience of that time had such a profound effect on him. Although Bell's work went through many evolutions over time, a clear pictorial lineage is apparent through certain key works. It is very easy to see the link between the 1962 canvas, Bernina, through Thrust itself and onto the works of the last two years, including the Windover Series (no.8 is represented in this exhibition). These paintings display the same dynamic forms and limited colour range. Bernina, for all its pared down abstraction, retains the classical rectangular format. It was not until 1962 and works such as Mountain Triangle that Bell began to dispense with the rigid ‘window’ format and experiment with shaped canvases. This move proved rather too daring for his dealers at the time, with whom he had enjoyed a commercially and critically successful relationship. By the time Bell was working on Thrust Mountain Triangle, 1962, one of the first shaped canvases produced by Bell

in 1967-8, his vision for the shaped canvases had become monumental and one could argue thathe was pushing the boundaries of painting far more than any of his ‘St Ives’ peers. His paintingshad physically thrust out of the rectangular format and redefined the painting as an object in itsown right rather than a window on the world.Bell's art is not introspective and it is not purely confined to a philosophical debate on themeaning of painting. A common misconception is that Bell's painting, like that of Lanyon's andHeron's, bore a direct relationship with landscape, and as such it is in some way representational.This is simply not the case. However Bell's painting is certainly inspired by the environment helives in and the fundamental forces which shape natural forms. Bell seeks to represent the primalpower that surrounds and defines both us and our environment. This is not always a destructiveforce. Canvases that were shown alongside Thrust bear titles such as Keel, Fastnet and Warsash(also part of this exhibition), and these titles allude to Bell's love of sailing. Through sailing Bellfelt a direct and tangible connection to nature. His harnessing of those natural forces to propel aboat forward finds an abstract interpretation in his paintings of the time. Many of the shapedcanvas even appear sail-like, the dynamic black and coloured forms conveying a sense ofpropulsion - of thrust.The primal forces that concerned Bell were notnecessarily those which one would experience on aday-to-day basis. Bernina, the earliest work in ourexhibition, is titled after the Alpine range in easternSwitzerland. Bell was (and remains) interested inevoking the tremendous geological forces that createthese mountain ranges. Closer to his adopted home inPhotograph taken by Bell while trekking in Zanskaon one of three Himalayan trips.

Cornwall, he was inspired by witnessing the force of the sea against the cliff faces, but also by the very creation of the land itself. Cornwall is built on a backbone of granite displaced by violent volcanic action. Works in our exhibition, including Fissure and Small Juggler refer to the action of the sea on rock. The repeated pounding of the sea causes fissures in the cliff faces, eventually creating great cavities (known as blowholes) through which plumes of sea water are displaced. Bell's work seeks not to depict the landscape but to describe the forces that shape and mould it. These themes reached their most obvious conclusions with the great Himalayan works of the early 1990s where not only did the canvases burst from their rectangular formats, the substructure of the artwork (the stretchers) thrust outside the canvas to become central compositional elements. Bell was not immune to man-made phenomena. His move to America in the 1970s coincided with the great period of space exploration. His home was located in Tallahassee, Florida (he was a Professor at Florida State University), close to the sea but also close to Cape Canaveral and the home of the Apollo and Voyager launches. Bell was entranced by the power of the rockets used in the launches, both in terms of the noise and spectacle, but also the colour. The rockets themselves, blasting upwards and breaking through the protective atmosphere of the Earth, seem to be a mechanical embodiment of Bell's painting. Bell returned the favour. Several major works of this period bear the unmistakableAbove: ‘Blowhole’ by Dominick Tyler from his book ‘Uncommon Ground’Right: The night launch of Voyager 2 (1977), from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Image c/o NASA/JPL

forms of jet plumes rendered in spectacular colours. Toreinforce the sense of awe Bell felt in witnessing theselaunches many of the associated works are monumental insize. Series such as the Tall Seven (shown right exhibited atBeyond Materiality, Tate St Ives) are unfortunately too largeto be included in this exhibition, but works on paper fromthis period convey the same themes on a more modest scale.It would appear that Blue Radial (shown below with Madison Spring during preparations for thisshow) is set aside slightly from the works previously discussed. It bears no title alluding tolocation or experience. Yet it is the precarious balance of the forms that ties the painting to therest of Bell's work. Blue Radial (like all works in the Rockers series) appears to contain its ownpotential energy. It seems forever teetering on the brink of movement, or more pertinently, ofcollapse. There is an uneasy tension created by the wedge splicing the hemisphere form. Theviewer becomes aware of witnessing a violent dissection. As if depicting the splitting of an atom,the wedge appears to be unleashing a force which radiates brilliantly outwards from the point ofcontact, a force which is both explosive and creative. What our exhibition proves beyond doubt is that Bell is a masterful painter of complex themes and an artist who has never relaxed or lapsed into mannerism. There is a strong thematic link to his work throughout the fifty two year span displayed in our exhibition and at eighty four years old Bell is still producing bold and challenging work. Above: Installation of Tall Seven, Tate St Ives, 2004. Image courtesy of Tate St Ives Left: Studio installation photograph of Blue Radial and Madison Spring, 2015

Bernina, 1962 Oil on canvas24 x 36 in / 61 x 92 cm



Spring, 1966 Oil on canvas50 x 68.5 in / 126 x 174 cm



Warsash, 1969 Oil on canvas 40 x 42 in / 101 x 106 cm Left:Thrust installed as part of Beyond Materiality at Tate St Ives, 2004. Image courtesy of Tate St Ives



Thrust, 1968 Oil on board 66 x 154 in / 168 x 391 cmAbove: Bell installing Thrust in his Winchester studio (circa 1968).



Blue Radial, 1985 Oil on linen 96 x 140 in / 244 x 355 cmAbove: Installation photograph of the Gulf Coast Museum, Largo, Florida, showing Blue Radial, no.s 4-6 of Florida Six and Tall Seven .



Last Rocker, 1990 Acrylic on canvas79.5 x 102 in / 202 x 259 cm



Tarn, 1993 Acrylic on canvas47 x 36 in / 119 x 91 cm



Mountain Place, 1994 Acrylic on canvas36 x 36 in / 91 x 91 cm



More Orange, 2008 Dawn, 2011Acrylic on carved panel Acrylic on canvas46 x 46 in / 120 x 120 cm 96 x 72 in / 243 x 183 cm



Fissure, 2012 Acrylic on canvas27.5 x 32.5 in / 70 x 83 cm



Calm Sea, 2005 Night Sea, 2011Acrylic on carved panel Acrylic on canvas36 x 36 in / 91 x 91 cm 60 x 60 in / 152 x 152 cm



Hammer, 2012 Acrylic on canvas55 x 90 in / 140 x 230 cm



Gloam, 2014 Ingress, 2014Acrylic on panel Acrylic on panel24 x 24 in / 61 x 61 cm 17 x 17 in / 45 x 45 cm



Strong Yellow, 2014 Grey Bite, 2013Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas61 x 49 in / 155 x 124.5 cm 59 x 57.5 in / 150 x 146 cm



Windover 8, 2013 Acrylic on canvas59 x 98 in / 150 x 250 cm



Poppy, 2012 Windround, 2014Acrylic on panel Acrylic on canvas33 x 35.5 in / 86 x 90 cm 59 x 59 in / 150 x 150 cm



Madison spring, 2014 Acrylic on canvas60 x 48 in / 152.5 x 122 cm



Untitled on yellow, 2012 Jolly one, 2012Acrylic on canvas Acrylic on canvas36 x 36 in / 92 x 92 cm 36 x 36 in / 92 x 92 cm



TREVOR BELL The Underwater, 1959British, born Leeds, 1930 Mixed media on paper 19.25 x 14.25 in / 49 x 36 cmTrevor Bell was born in Leeds in 1930. He was awarded a scholarship to attend The Leeds Collegeof Art from 1947 to 1952 and, encouraged by Terry Frost, moved to Cornwall in 1955. St Ives was A storm wave breaking atthe epicentre for British abstract art, being the home to artists such as Patrick Heron, Peter Sennen Cove, CornwallLanyon, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and Terry Frost. He made his reputationas a leading member of the group who helped establish British Art on the international stage.From these artists, especially Nicholson, Bell received advice and support. Nicholson, alongsidehis then dealer Charles Gimpel, encouraged him to show in London and Waddington Galleriesgave Bell his first solo exhibition in 1958. Patrick Heron wrote the introduction to the exhibitioncatalogue, stating that Bell was ‘the best non-figurative painter under thirty’.In 1959 Bell was awarded the Paris Biennale International Painting Prize and an ItalianGovernment Scholarship. In the following year he was offered the Gregory Fellowship in Paintingat the University of Leeds whose advisors at the time were Sir Herbert Read and Henry Moore. Itwas during this period that Bell developed his shaped canvases, setting his work apart from otherartists of his generation.Throughout the 1960’s Bell showed work in major exhibitions in the UK and USA and during thistime his work was first purchased for the Tate collection. In 1973 he presented his new work atthe Whitechapel Gallery in London, having just taken part in a major exhibition at the CorcoranGallery in Washington DC. Over the course of the next thirty years Bell combined painting withteaching in various locations eventually moving to Florida State University in 1976 to becomethe Professor for Master Painting. Here with the provision of a warehouse-sized studio and timeto really develop his painting he produced the large-scale, intensely coloured works, reflectingthe influence of the climate and landscape on him and his work. He went on to spend the next20 years in America. Important exhibitions were held at the Corcoran Gallery and the Academyof Sciences in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum in Miami, The Cummer Gallery and theMuseum of Art at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.In 1985 Bell was included in St Ives 1939-64, a seminal exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London,and in 1993 he was part of the inaugural show of the Tate St Ives. Moving from Florida in 1996he established his studios near Penzance, Cornwall and continued to exhibit in London, the USAand St Ives. Bell had a major solo exhibition at the Tate St Ives in 2004 and, in 2011, a further 14works were obtained by the Tate Gallery for their permanent collection. Bell has had workspurchased and commissioned by numerous other international museums and public and privatecollections including (among others) The Arts Council of England, British Council, BritishMuseum, Laing Art Gallery, Ljubljana’s U.V.U Keleia Collection and the Victoria & Albert Museum.Bell was twice a recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Council of Florida, an Honorarymember of the Royal West of England Academy, an Honorary Fellow of University CollegeFalmouth and an Emeritus Professor of Florida State University.Trevor Bell has been represented by Waterhouse & Dodd for ten years and has held four previoussolo exhibitions at both our London and New York galleries.

Selected Solo Exhibitions 1993 Lydon Fine Art, Chicago 1992 Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan2014 The wind the space, Millennium Gallery, St Ives Foster Harmon Gallery, Sarasota, Florida2013 Across the Gulf Stream, 1991 Jaffe/Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida2012 Museum of Fine Art, Orlando, Florida 1990 Lydon Fine Art, Chicago2011 Link, Millennium Gallery, St Ives 1990 Gloria Luria Gallery, Florida Center for the Arts,2010 80 Years Young, Waterhouse & Dodd, New York Vero Beach, Florida Nothing Extra, Waterhouse & Dodd, London 1989 Foster Harmon Gallery, Florida2009 Trevor Bell at Eighty; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Aether, Lydon Fine Art, Chicago Millennium Gallery, St Ives 1988 Eve Mannes Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia2007 Haste Slowly, Millennium Gallery, St Ives 1986 Gillian Jason Gallery, London2006 Moving Right Along, Waterhouse & Dodd, London 1985 New Art Centre, London Nothing Extra, Leeds University Gallery 1984 Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida2005 White & Colour, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives 1983 Gloria Luria Gallery, Bal Harbour, Florida Before Sea – After Earth, Waterhouse & Dodd, London 1982 Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida2004 Before Sea – After Earth, Said Gallery,Said Business School, 1981 Charleston College, South Carolina2003 University of Oxford, Oxford Foster Harmon Gallery, Sarasota, Florida Still – The New Paintings, Lydon Fine Art, Chicago 1980 Cummer Museum, Jacksonville, Florida2002 Trevor Bell: Heatscape – The Florida Six and Still – The New Metropolitan Museum, Coral Gates, Miami, Florida Paintings, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth 1975 Gloria Luria Gallery, Bal Harbour, Florida2001 Calm Squares, Allusive Forms, 1974 Big Magenta installation, Florida State University2000 New Millennium Gallery, St Ives 1973 Center for Professional Development, Tallahassee, Florida1999 Recent Work, Lydon Fine Art, Chicago 1970 Shaped Work from the 60’s1998 Beyond Materiality: Paintings and Drawings 1967-2004, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida1996 Tate Gallery, St Ives 1969 National Academy of Science, Washington DC1995 New Millennium Gallery, St Ives 1963 Artspace, Miami, Florida Trevor Bell: A British Painter in America, 1961 Intimate Works on Paper, Virginia Miller Gallery,1994 Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, 1958 Coral Gables, Florida1993 Tallahassee, Florida Artspace, Miami, Florida The Gulf Coast Museum, Largo, Florida University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida Galerie Pelar Ltd, Greenport, New York Five Bar exhibited, Florida State University, Florida Lydon Fine Art, Chicago Four Arts Institute for Contemporary Art Seven Worchester Terrace, Bath Florida State University, Florida New Millennium Gallery, St. Ives Southern Cross exhibited, Bundestag, Bonn, Germany Lydon Fine Art, Chicago Corcoran Gallery, Washington North Light Gallery, Huddersfield Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Stephen Lacey Gallery, London Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh Hodgell Gallery, Sarasota, Florida Arts Council of Northern Ireland Gallery, Belfast Falmouth College of Arts, Falmouth Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield Illinois Centre, Chicago Indulgences and Disciplines; works on paper Art Collectors Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida Lancaster University & Greenwich Theatre Gallery, London Mercantile Exchange Building, Chicago Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford Marsha Orr Contemporary Fine Art, Tallahassee, Florida Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles Lydon Fine Art, Chicago Waddington Gallery, London Division of Cultural Affairs, Tallahassee, Florida (3 subsequent exhibitions in 1960, 1962 and 1964)

Selected Public Collections Rouse Company Collection Rugby Library, Gallery & MuseumAbbot Hall Gallery, Kendal Shearson Lehman Hutton Collection, New YorkAberdeen Art Gallery Slaughter and May, LondonArts Council of Great Britain Southern Bell, Jacksonville, FloridaAmerican Express St Anne’s College, OxfordAstra Zeneca, Boston, Massachusetts St Catherine’s College, OxfordBalliol College, Oxford Tate Gallery, LondonBritish Council Terence Disdale DesignBritish Museum Trinity College, OxfordBroward County Courthouse, Florida University of LeedsClearwater Federal, Clearwater, Florida University of StirlingCoca-Cola World Headquarters, Florida University of Sussex, BrightonContemporary Arts Society UVU Keleia Collection, LjubljanaDepartment of Management Services, Tallahassee, Florida Victoria & Albert Museum, LondonDepartment of Transportation, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Wakefield City Art GalleryDeutsche Morgan Grenfell Whitworth Art Gallery, ManchesterEducation Authority, Hull Numerous private collections in Europe, Canada and the United StatesFalmouth Art Gallery, CornwallFederal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Georgia AwardsFlorida House of Representatives, Tallahassee, FloridaFlorida Power and Light, Miami, Florida Paris Biennale Major Prize WinnerFlorida State University Museum, Florida Gregory Fellow, Leeds UniversityGetty Center for the History of Art, Los Angeles, California Italian Government ScholarshipIBM Collection, Atlanta, Boca Raton, Florida and New York Florida Art FellowshipJohn Lewis Group Emeritus Professor, Florida State UniversityLaing Art Gallery, Newcastle Honorary R.W.ALeeds City Museum Honorary Fellow, University College FalmouthLeicester Museum and Art GalleryLeon County Civic Center, Tallahassee, Florida Further ReadingMcMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario, CanadaMuseum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Trevor Bell, A British Painter In America, Ed., A Palladino-Craig publishedNett Bank, Florida by Florida State University, ISBN 1-889282-14-6Northwest Regional Data Center, State University System, FloridaOrlando Aviation Authority, Florida Trevor Bell by Chris Stephens & Elizabeth Knowles, published by SansonPark Bank, Sarasota, Florida & Company, ISBN 978-1-904537-88-5Pegasus Solutions, Dallas TexasPérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Florida Catalogue published by Waterhouse & DoddPhilips International, Eindhoven, Holland Introductory ext and design by Jamie AndersonPhoenix Art Museum, Arizona Printed by ArtQuarters PressPlayboy Corporation Collection, Chicago Photography by Steve Tanner (St Ives)Polk Museum, Florida Additional images by Todd White (London) / Ali Elai (New York)Prudential Insurance Collection Location and installation images credited in captionRegency Group Collection All artwork images copyright of the artistRingling Art Museum, Sarasota, Florida

Back cover imagePoppy, 2012Acrylic on panel33 x 35.5 in / 86 x 90 cm

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