1930 George Bell original watercolour painting, portrait, antique framed artwork

Beautiful original watercolour painting by significant 20th century Australian artist George Bell. Entitled “Antoinette”, c.1930, signed lower right, accompanied by an Eastgate Gallery authentication dated 20 July 1993 signed by the artist’s daughter Mrs A. Niven, presented under glass in a gilt frame with mount.

An intimate and sensitively observed portrait, Bell uses fluid translucent washes, a subdued olive-grey ground and vivid blue to give the sitter a striking presence with remarkable economy of line and colour.

52cm x 48cm frame

22cm x 17cm artwork 

Artist biography
George Frederick Henry Bell (1878–1966) was one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century Melbourne art, working as a painter, teacher, critic and official Australian war artist. Born in Kew, Bell studied at the National Gallery School under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin before continuing his training in Paris and spending many years working in Britain and Europe. After returning to Melbourne in 1920, he became an important advocate for modernism, establishing the influential Bell–Shore school in 1932 and later helping to found the Contemporary Art Society. His students included major Australian artists such as Russell Drysdale and Fred Williams. Bell was appointed OBE for his services to Australian art in 1966, and his work is held in major public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, which holds more than twenty of his works.