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Castlegate House Gallery, recognised by The Times as one of the top 10 must-visit galleries in the UK, has secured the two major works from private collections, bringing them back into the public eye after decades largely unseen.
The first painting, Pathway to a Farm (1959), is considered to be among the very strongest of her works and dates to the first decade of Fell’s professional career.
First exhibited at her third major exhibition at Beaux Arts Gallery, London in 1960, the painting was also shown at the Derwent Centre in Cockermouth the following year, where it was acquired by its sole owners in 1961.
Remarkably, the work has remained in the same private home, on the same wall, for more than sixty-five years until its recent acquisition by Castlegate.
The large-scale painting is widely regarded as a triumph of composition, capturing the defining elements of Fell’s distinctive landscape style, from the snow-capped fells through to farm buildings, workers in the fields and the pathways of rural Cumbria that shaped her artistic identity.
The second painting, Haystacks in Winter (1961), has been acquired from a private collection in Cambridge and represents another commanding example of Fell’s early 1960s output.
Depicting a winter landscape along the Solway Plain, the work reflects Fell’s deep understanding of the region’s terrain, where the Lake District fells give way to flatter farmland stretching towards the Solway Firth.
Despite its snowy subject matter, the painting carries a notable warmth and energy, with a sky influenced by the work of J M W Turner and his treatment of light and atmosphere.
Both paintings also have notable exhibition histories, with Haystacks in Winter illustrated in contemporary press coverage from the early 1960s when the work featured in a solo exhibition at Middlesbrough Municipal Art Gallery.
Steve Swallow of Castlegate House Gallery said the acquisitions represent an important opportunity to bring exceptional examples of Fell’s work back into circulation and to share them with a new generation of collectors.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have acquired two truly exceptional works by arguably the greatest Cumbrian artist and one of Britain’s most lauded landscape painters of the twentieth century,” he said.
“To have discovered Pathway to a Farm and be able to bring it back into the light after sixty-five years tucked away in the same appreciative home is incredibly exciting.
“It is one of the best works by Sheila Fell and certainly the most significant painting by her that we have handled in the last fifteen years.”
He added: “Haystacks in Winter speaks clearly of Fell’s admiration for Turner and the influence he had on her work.
“To create a winter snow scene that still feels warm and inviting is no small achievement, but Sheila manages it with remarkable confidence.”
Sheila Fell, born in Aspatria, Cumbria, remains one of the most respected British landscape painters of the twentieth century, known for her expressive, powerful depictions of the Cumbrian landscape.
Castlegate House Gallery continues to specialise in Modern British and contemporary art, with a particular focus on artists connected to the North of England and the Lake District.
The two paintings will be available to view through the gallery.
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