Mooring

Originally titled “Orange and Black Mooring,” this 1972 print depicting two boats side by side is a classic example of both the technique and the subject matter for which Alistair Bell has become known. The woodcut print delivers Bell’s characteristic shipyard motif with a dynamic and exciting play of lines. Retitled for our Paperblanks journal collection simply as “Mooring,” we have sought to celebrate Bell’s attention to line and internal rhythm in our selection and reproduction of this piece.

Alistair Macready Bell was born in Darlington, England, in 1913 and emigrated to Canada in the early 1920s. It was here that he developed his personal style and rose to prominence as one of the country’s finest printmakers.

We at Paperblanks are proud to celebrate the life and work of Alistair Bell as our first series in our new collection honouring Canadian artists and thinkers. Making the connection even stronger for us is the fact that Bell studied in our own hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia. Bell arrived in our city in 1929 and enrolled at the Vancouver School of Art in 1935. It was here that he gained access to an artist’s press and produced his first print.

This was a true turning point for Bell, who had also attended art school in London, England, and was strongly influenced by German expressionism. He supported his family by working as a draftsman in a structural steel plant, and it is the combination of all these influences that can be seen in the art he created in his small, basement studio.

Bell eventually mastered the techniques of drypoint, etching, lithography engraving and woodcutting and by 1967 was successful enough to leave the steel trade and become a full-time artist, establishing himself internationally for his talent in graphic media.

As one of a number of mid-century artists who developed a distinctly West Coast artistic sensibility, Bell received two Senior Art Fellowships from the Canada Council which allowed him to travel extensively, seeking out wild places and creatures around the world.

For nearly eighty years, Bell’s work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in England and the National Gallery in Ottawa. A complete collection of his prints can also be found at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in British Columbia.

Though Bell passed away in 1997 his work and legacy lives on through his brilliant works, and we are honoured to bring four of his prints to our Paperblanks collection.