Artist Database

Deborah Bell is one of South Africa’s most celebrated contemporary artists. Bell received her BAFA (Hons) and MFA degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand. She works in a range of media on canvas and paper, produces drypoint etchings and large-scale bronzes. Her earlier more political work has given way to a broader, deeper investigation into the border between mortality and immortality, matter and spirit, presence and absence, the quotidian and the mythic, the grounded and transcendent. Bell has collaborated on various historically important projects with contemporaries such as William Kentridge and Robert Hodgins. Her work is represented in public and private collections around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY, USA; the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA; the Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan; and the IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town. As well as a career as an artist, Bell has worked as a lecturer at various South African tertiary institutions, including the University of the Witwatersrand.