Trevor Bell (1930 – 2017) remains one of the most highly regarded British abstract painters of the last 50 years, and one of a select band of artists who had a full Tate retrospective in their lifetime. Bell was born in Leeds in 1930 where he was later awarded a scholarship to attend The Leeds College of Art, from 1947 to 1952. Encouraged by Terry Frost, Bell then moved to Cornwall in 1955 bringing him at a very young age into contact with the cream of the British avant-garde. His first commission was not the most auspicious: a painting and decorating job for Patrick Heron at Zennor. However, for Bell’s first solo exhibition at Waddington Galleries in London in 1958 Heron, writing in the introduction to the catalogue, described Bell as ‘the best non-figurative painter under thirty’.
His reputation spread quickly, and by the early 1970s he had been awarded a major exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, then (as now) a focal point for cutting edge contemporary art. It was to be his last major UK show before his relocation to Florida. For the next 25 years Trevor lived and taught at the Florida State University. He exhibited regularly in commercial galleries and museums across America.
1996 saw his move back to Cornwall and his re-connection with the landscape and atmosphere that influenced his first abstract paintings. He became a regular feature of the Tate St Ives exhibition programme and had a full retrospective in 2004. And in 2011, a further 14 works were obtained by the Tate Gallery for their permanent collection.
Bell had works purchased and commissioned by numerous other international museums and public and private collections including (among others) The Arts Council of England, British Council, British Museum, Boca Raton, 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 Honorary RWA of the Royal West of England Academy, an Honorary Fellow of University College Falmouth and an Emeritus Professor of Florida State University.