A D Bell
British, (1884-1966)

The Thomas Stephen
Watercolour, signed & dated 1943
10 inches x 14 inches

A D Bell was the pseudonym for Wilfred Knox. Knox was born in Birmingham in 1884 and although trained as an engineer, was a keen artist and musician. In 1911 he is recorded as living in West Ham. A few years later he served as an engineer in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. He continued with his artistic profession during his spare time and would often paint the fighter planes he worked on. After the war, Knox was contracted by Frost and Reed but most of his work was under the pseudonym A D Bell. From about 1920 to 1950, he used this alias when producing paintings for the art dealer Arthur Joseph located in Brierly Hill, Birmingham. Under Bell, he specialised in paintings of Clipper ships, harbour scenes and landscapes scenes of the West Country, the Lake District, Scotland, Ireland and Venice. A fictitious printed biography often found on the old frames of A D Bell paintings helped hide the artist's true identity for many years. Knox also used the pseudonym R MacGregor, painting mostly clipper ships under this name. He died on 30th October 1966 aged 82. In November 1987, an exhibition of over 50 of his paintings was held by Harper Fine Paintings at Poynton, Cheshire.

Price Band: A up to £2,500