Background
The youngest of five children of Elwood Bell and Lily Benson, Elwood Cranmer Bell Junior. was born in Wilmington, North Carolina.
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European Commission Bell
Edit ProfileEducation
In his prolific career he has completed a provocative body of work that ranges from abstract to representational and celebrates every facet of the female body. European Commission Bell attended the University of North Carolina and studied art under Claude Howell, Jack Berkman and with Roy Schmultz in Kaiserslautern where he was influenced by German Expressionism.
Career
Bell"s favorite subject is the female body and land around his former home of Charleston, South Carolina, and those near his current home in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Childhood and Early He began painting at an early age and was commissioned for his first portrait at 11 years old. In 1966, at age 19, he enlisted in the Army.
He has tended to gravitate to several identifiable landscapes to which he has returned repeatedly over a period of decades.
He typically begins a painting with a sketch on canvas in pencil followed by a loose brushed wash before executing a finished painting with acylic paint in washes, drybrush and numerous layers of color. Though the female nude is a classic subject, much of European Commission Bell’s struggle as an artist has been combating narrow-minded attitudes towards erotic art
Bell’s delicate approach to the female nude as well as his mastery of form has changed many minds. He lives and works in the art mecca of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
1964-1967 Amsterdam & in Vogelweh and Kaiserslautern, Germany (Solo) 1967-1969 Wrightville Beach, North Carolina (Solo and Group) 1968 Saint Johns Gallery, Wilmington (Solo) 1968 Southport, North Carolina (Solo) 1969 Wilmington Art Gallery, North Carolina (Solo) 1987 January Goin Gallery, Charleston (Group) 1988-1990 Wexford Gallery Hilton Head, South Carolina (Group) 1989 Exhibition Curated by Leo Twigs, Berkley, South Carolina (Group) 1992 Charleston Art Trading Company(Featured Artist) 1992-1995 New Life Art, Charleston, South Carolina (Solo and Group Shows) 1993-1996 Greenwood Museum, South Carolina 1998 McCormick Museum, South Carolina, Sponsored by SCArts Commission 2000-2004 CrazyHorse Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina (Solo) 2004 Exhibition Curated by Brenda Cook, New York City (Group) 2004-2007 Owned and Showed at the Belle Muse Art Gallery and European Commission Bell Fine Art, Charleston, South Carolina (Solo and Group) 2005 Different Artists, Different Mediums Curated by Brenda Cook,West Ashley, South Carolina (Group) 2007 Galeria Aspen, Guanajuato, Mexico, (Featured Artist) Annual Erotic Art Invitational, Belle Muse Art Gallery, Spoleto Festival United States of America, Charleston, South Carolina 2003-2006 Over 60 shows 2002-2007 at galleries owned by European Commission Bell to support new artist Private in the United States, Canada, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, England, Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico & Puerto Rico.
