Code: 5011
Dimensions:
A beautiful large signed and dated 1940 modern British oil on canvas by Patricia Fell-Clark, the painter and novelist known for introducing the Beatles to Ravi Shankar.
The work depicts chrysanthemums in a green plant pot and is presented it's superb original painted swept frame. Signed and dated lower right.
A rare and important work by a female artist working in the early 20th century. Such artists were often overlooked during their lifetimes, but are now being re-evaluated and are much sought after.
Artist: Patricia Fell-Clark (British, 1914-2001)
Title: Chrysanthemums in a Green Pot
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 26 x 29.5 inches (66 x 75 cm) including the frame
Patricia Clare Fell-Clark (later Angradi) was a British painter and novelist, perhaps best remembered for introducing the Beatles to Ravi Shankar.
She was born Patricia Clare Fell-Clark on 23 September 1914, at 68 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, in north London, the youngest of four children of Robert Fell-Clark (1872–1948), a paint businessman, and his wife Hannah Clare Fell-Clark.
She was educated at Frognal School, Prior's Field School, and a Paris finishing school, followed by Heatherley School of Fine Art, London (1933-37) where her teachers included Frederic Whiting and Bernard Adams.
In 1939, at the age of 25, and already enjoying some success as a portrait painter, she was walking along London's Oxford Street when she saw Ayana Deva Angadi (1903–1993), an aspiring Indian writer and Trotskyist intellectual. She said to a friend: "He's gorgeous. I would really love to paint him." A few weeks later, they met by chance at a political rally, and a relationship developed.
On 1 May 1943 at Kensington Register Office, they married, and although her parents refused to attend, her governess "Portie" did. The couple were allowed to live on the top floor of her parents' house in Hampstead.
The Angadis established the Asian Music Circle, and introduced eastern culture to the UK, including yoga, Indian dancing and music, all quite novel at the time. Their visitors included Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar.
In 1953, Angadi became chair of the Hampstead Artists Council. She continued to paint, including portraits of Yehudi Menuhin and her friends Barbara Castle and Fenner Brockway.
In 1965, the Angadis attended a recording session for the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood", where Patricia sketched John Lennon and George Harrison at work. The following year, she painted a wedding portrait of Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd, and introduced Harrison, and by extension the Beatles, to Ravi Shankar.
