An Artist Who Inspires- Leland Bell

In my current work in progress, I have been toying around with a bright window behind my protagonist. This is inspired by the great Leland Bell. ⁠
*I should note that there is another artist named Leland Bell who's work is inspired from his Native American heritage, and his work looks very different than the Leland Bell I am referring to. ⁠

 Leland Bell, Morning III 1985 Acrylic on canvas, 62x43

Leland Bell (September 17, 1922 – September 18, 1991) was an American painter, who was introduced to me as an art student at Queens College in NYC. (In fact, a may have even met him at an opening for his wife, artist Louisa Matthíasdóttir… it was so darn long ago, I can’t be sure!)

Leland Bell, Frank O'Brian, 1979, Acrylic on canvas, 24x32

Leland Bell, Morning II 1985 Acrylic on canvas, 74x58

Bell has been a guide and an inspiration for me for so many years, I find it surprising to see that there is an absolute dirge of information and images about him on the internet. I was always under the impression that he was famous.

Leland Bell, Skull and Plant, 1978, Acrylic on canvas 40x42

Leland Bell, Three Figures with Butterfly 1979-82, 52x102

Leland Bell, Ulla and Frank Playing Cards, 1975-78, Oil on canvas, 52x64

One of the things I share with Leland Bell is his obsessive repetition of certain themes, creating many versions of the same basic image. He also sometimes worked on one painting for many years. ⁠
I love the way he simplifies, his use of that heavy black line, and his compositions. I refer to him often as I am working on my art.⁠

Leland Bell, Morning V 1985 Acrylic on canvas 71x56

Ulla, Temma, and Frank, 1978, Oil on canvas, 72x66

An Artist Who Inspires- Marc Chagall

Today is the last day of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. In celebration of this, I am featuring Marc Chagall.

Marc Chagall The Birthday 1915

 Marc Chagall is one of the twentieth century’s most famous artists, and probably the most famous artist that is associated with being Jewish. He is considered a Modernist, a Cubist, a Symbolist, a Fauvist, and sometimes “Naïve” painter, who is also well known for his stained glass windows.

Marc Chagall I and the Village 1911

He was born in 1887 in Belarus, and migrated to France in 1910. He escaped Nazi persecution to the US in 1941, returning to France in 1948, where he lived the rest of his very long life, dying in 1985. 

Marc Chagall The Fiddler 1913

 
His subject matter is wide and free-wheeling, and although he was not a practicing Jew, he wove images of the memories of his Hasidic upbringing in Belarus when he was young.

Marc Chagall Solitude 1933

 I am inspired by Chagall’s work and sometimes wish I could break up space with such aplomb. 

 

I love the air of mystery, sadness, joy, romance and spiritualism that his work combines. Maybe someday I will get there, too!

Aleko and-His Wife Zemphira from an Old Russian Tale

Marc Chagall Blue Village 1975

Marc Chagall The Circus 1964