The Art of Felix Kelly

This album documents the works of artist Felix Kelly. International Art Centre has become synonymous in Australasia for the resale of this artist's work by both auction and private treaty. Enjoy the images, we will update them as new works come to hand.

If you have works by Felix Kelly you would like appraised or sold please feel free to email us images and details without obligation toinfo@internationalartcentre.co.nz

The life of expatriate artist Felix Kelly b. 3 February 1914 - d. 3 July 1994 is as intriguing as his work. Born in Epsom, Auckland he attended Kings College but left New Zealand aged twenty one years for the bright lights of London. Befriended and patronised by many leading society figures of the day, Kelly exhibited alongside Lucien Freud, Julian Trevelyan and on one occasion Frances Hodgkins. A life of glamour and creativity ensued. Kelly painted the famous Garden Room Murals at Castle Howard, where the ITV series Brideshead Revisited was filmed, designed theatre sets for Sir John Gielgud and Dame Sybil Thorndike and illustrated magazines such as Harper's Bazaar. Kelly's distinctive work, rarely seen at auction, is held in British and American collections, Te Papa and Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery. A major retrospective was held in 2010. The same year a book was published on his life and work "Fix" by Donald Bassett.

Kelly also produced set designs for theatre productions including:

A Day by the Sea, 1953, the Haymarket. This production starred Sybil Thorndike and John Gielgud

World premier of the Opera Nelson, 1954, Sadler's Wells Theatre

The Merchant of Venice, 1960-1961, the Old Vic

The Last Joke, 1960, The Phoenix