Roy Beverley Abell (21 January 1931 – 30 June 2020) was an English Midlands-based artist. He was born in Small Heath,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and had a distinguished career as a painter and as an art teacher. He studied at the

Birmingham College of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

and at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, returning to Birmingham to teach at his former college from 1957 to 1982. He was made head of the painting school in 1974 and served as a member of the West Midlands Arts - Fine Arts Panel. Abell's paintings were a response to the visual world around him, painting using both oils and watercolour. His subjects were vast and wide-ranging, however his principal subjects were figurative and landscape, most particularly the wild landscapes of Spain, England, Scotland, Wales and especially the rugged coast of Pembrokeshire. Abell exhibited in many solo and joint exhibitions across the country and his work is represented in public collections all over the UK: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery,

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, branded as simply Amgueddfa Cymru (formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and legally National Museum of Wales), is a Welsh Government sponsored body that comprises seven museums in Wales: * N ...

and

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

. Abell received a number of commissions during his career, most notably one of the six Alexander Howden Jubilee Awards - Great British Achievements in 1977. Abell was also a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, a right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler. Abell played for Warwickshire Second XI from 1960 to 1968, and played one first-class match for

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

in 1967. He took four wickets against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

on debut at the advanced age of 36. He was the first bowler to take 1,000 wickets in the Birmingham League. To see more of Abell's work and watch him talk about his life in paintings in a short film, visit hi
website www.royabellartist.com

References

1931 births 2020 deaths English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Cricketers from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Small Heath, Birmingham English cricketers of 1946 to 1968 {{England-cricket-bio-1930s-stub