The Super's Wife (Land Lady)

Cecil Bell

In her book on the work of Cecil Bell, Phyllis Barton states (Page 70) "'The Super's Wife,' one of Bell's first oils, reveals a humanistic stylization of form explicatory of Bell's abiding love for the American proletariat. With affection and the tolerant humor of Daumier, Bell characterized his buxom, aproned lady as the power behind the throne, her symbol of authority the postern marking the entrance to her basement flat."

Cecil Crosley "Spike" Bell was born in Seattle, WA on July 15, 1906. In 1925 he took a job at Tacoma Engraving and in 1928 studied printmaking at the Chicago Art Institute in the fall semester. After marrying Agatha Lewis in 1929 the newlyweds moved to New York City in 1930, where Bell studied at the Art Students League with John Sloan, Charles Locke, Will Barnet, and Harry Wickey.

In 1931 he began to work as a commercial artist at Fox Films, while continuing to study at the ASL and privately with Ashcan painter John Sloan. He continued as a freelance illustrator in the 30’s and sold a painting to the Whitney Museum in 1936. He continued his education, studying lithography with Harry Sternberg and printmaking with Will Barnet at the Art Students League in New York. In 1942 he moved to Staten Island, N.Y. Bell exhibited in New York in the 40’s and in the 50’s traveled to Europe.

Bell's work focused primarily on American city scenes and genres, often portraying ordinary people in everyday situations illuminated in rich hues. Figurative compositions and landscapes in rural Vermont and beachside New Jersey also frequented his oeuvre.

From 1935 to his retirement in 1968 he continued to work as a freelance illustrator for the Donut Corporation. He suffered serious medical problems and surgeries in 1956-57 but recovered and spent 6 weeks in 1961 in Mexico, where he did his only work executed outside the U.S. Cecil Bell died in Rutland, Vermont on July 26, 1970.