54 FELIX KELLY 1914 - 1994 Tower House - Park Village West Oil on board 43.0 x 56.0 Signed ESTIMATE $8,000 - 12,000 PROVENANCE Arthur Jeffress Gallery, London Mr & Mrs J G Links Arthur Jeffress Gallery label affixed verso The life of expatriate artist Felix Kelly is as intriguing as his work. Born in Epsom, Auckland he attended Kings College but left New Zealand aged 21 years for the bright lights of London. Befriended and patronised by many leading society figures of the day, Kelly exhibited alongside Lucien Freud, Julian Trevelyan and on one occasion Frances Hodgkins. A life of glamour and creativity ensued.
53
Kelly painted the famous Garden Room Murals at Castle Howard, where the ITV series Brideshead Revisited was filmed, designed theatre sets for Sir John Gielgud and Dame Sybil Thorndike and illustrated magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar. Kelly’s distinctive work, rarely seen at auction, is held in British and American collections, Te Papa and Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery.
53 WILIAM MONTIGUE NEVIN WATKINS 1835 - 1904 Settlers in a South Island Landscape Oil on canvas 37.0 x 50.2 ESTIMATE $4,000 - 6,000
58
Important, Early & Rare Thursday 26th July 2012
A major retrospective was held in 2010 at Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery, curated by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins. The exhibition was later shown in Auckland at Gus Fisher Gallery. This painting of 12 Park Village West, Regent’s Park, London is of an eye catching residence designed in the early 1820’s by leading British architect John Nash. Nash was responsible for much of the layout of Regency London under the patronage of King George IV. One of his most famous designs is the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. The charming Italianate design seen here, with its octagonal tower and classical features would have appealed to Felix Kelly. Kelly’s extraordinary life is documented in Donald Bassett’s biography Fix: The Art & Life of Felix Kelly