THE HISTORY OF VERMONT’S ASHCAN ARTIST

Cecil C. Bell painted local portraits and Vermont pastoral scenes from the 1930’s until his death in Rutland in 1970.

Born in Seattle, Washington, and a student of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the Art Students League of New York under Harry Wickey and John Sloan, Cecil C. Bell has had his work in the public collections of major museums such as The Metropolitan, Cooper-Hewitt and The Whitney in New York, The Smithsonian Institution, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Storm King Art Center and the Parrish Art Museum, as well other prestigious art collections. He resided in Staten Island and Vermont.

Bell’s style is reminiscent of the Ashcan school of painters of the 1930’s--so called because the depictions of daily neighborhood life sometimes included rooftops replete with laundry or alleys with ash cans. Cecil Bell, affectionately known as “Spike” to his friends, did not share, however, the doom and gloom philosophy of his fellow artists in the Social Realist movement. Instead he portrayed life as he saw it--with un-sung layers of promise.

Phyllis Barton, biographer of Cecil C. Bell, says "Like a writer digging for copious information, Bell with tender skill shaped Vermont history in paint.“

Please note that we would be happy to help any art student with a thesis concerning Bell.