Bellmans Auctioneers

Bellmans Auctioneers are offering a rare Quentin Bell work for sale.

It will be included in the Modern & Contemporary Art Auction on November 11 (https://www.bellmans.co.uk/auction/details/nov-modart-2026-11-november--modern--contemporary-art/?au=186)

In person viewing for all the November auctions is on: 5th November 10am-4pm; 6th November 10am-4pm; 7th November 9am-12:30pm; 9th November 10am-4pm; and 10th November 10am-4pm.

A spokesman said: “We are also hosting an evening drinks preview of our November auctions on 4th November 5pm-7pm. More details here https://www.bellmans.co.uk/news-item/bellmans-late--wednesday-4th-november/?pc=29

“All of our auctions and viewings are based at our saleroom in West Sussex at Bellmans Auctioneers, Newpound, Wisborough Green, RH14 0AZ.”

Included in the sale will be Quentin Bell’s Gogglebox Diorama, estimate £2,000-£4,000.

“’Mixed-media magic; Exuberant, funny and strange’ This is Charleston House’s description of Quentin Bell’s goggleboxes in their first exhibition of his work for thirty years.

“The gogglebox, a three-dimensional masterpiece, was rediscovered in the north of England twenty years ago by the previous Lincolnshire owner. Bell had been Ferens Professor at Hull in the 1960s so there was a strong Bloomsbury collection in that area; the Brynmor Jones Art Gallery at Hull University and in Kingston-upon-Hull, the Ferens Art Gallery and the Duncan Grant murals at Lincoln Cathedral.

“The grey painted interior in the present work has the feel of the austerity years, yet the crude pop outer has exquisite detailing within; four gilt-framed paintings and a mirror, a night landscape backdrop beyond the window, electric-lit interior which also fulfils subtle sparkling starlight outside. On the floor of an uneven, time-worn Charlestonesque room, a painted fine rug and the two-piece sculpture, a chaise, the lady’s attire and her naked body floating up near the curtain tops.

“This motif of the levitating woman was a recurrent theme in Bell’s work, having first witnessed it as a child at a magic show. Arguably the most famous incarnation of this subject is Levitating Woman, The Dreamer, Astral Lady, part of the Stanley and Audrey Burton Collection, University of Leeds, where Bell was Professor of Fine Art between 1959 and 1967.

“Two of the exquisitely rendered painting are copies of Old Masters; the landscape hung high on the left hand wall is Poussin’s Echo and Narcissus while Correggio’s Jupiter and Io dominates the right hand wall; the painting above the door is Giovanni Lanfranco’s Mary Magdalen Raised by Angels while the striking woman with red hair in a black dress appears later in the style and reminiscent of Singer Sargent.”

Matthew Holliday, curator of the current Quentin Bell Exhibition at Charleston, said: “The goggleboxes were made when Bell was at Cobbe Place in Beddingham – between fifteen and twenty in total. Unfortunately, they were stored in the cellar and many became damp before the Bells downsized in the 1980s. One gogglebox, Past and Present, went to the Towner Gallery collection, Eastbourne and this is in the current Charleston exhibition. The present work is the only other known example; the rest were either destroyed or scattered to the wind. The scene through the window could be Lewes. I think a case could be made that it's the view from the east side of the town looking across Cliffe towards the castle, perhaps on bonfire night.”

Cressida Bell was invited to see the Gogglebox by the past owner then in Lewes, and she confirmed that it had been made by her father.