Biographies

Robert Anning Bell (1863 – 1933)

He was born in London and studied at the Westminster School of Art and then in Paris. He also studied under George Frampton. Later he worked in the studio of Aimé Morot in Paris and travelled to Italy. Bell belonged to the group of artist–craftsmen who brought about the last flowering of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He painted in oil and watercolour and was among the pioneers of the revival of the use of tempera. He worked as an illustrator and also undertook projects in stained glass and mosaic, a medium he used to great effect in three public commissions in London: the Horniman Museum, Westminster Cathedral and St Stephen’s Hall. He became an important figure in the development of art nouveau in Britain, most especially as an influential teacher–first at Liverpool University, from the late 1890s, then at the Glasgow School of Art, from 1911, and after WWI at the Royal College of Art.