{{Short description|New Zealand artist}} {{for|the New Zealand cricketer|Felix Kelly (cricketer)}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Felix Kelly | image = Felix_Runcie_Kelly.jpg | alt = | caption = Felix Kelly | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|2|3|df=yes}} | birth_place = Mountain Road, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand <ref>{{cite news |title=Births |work=The Auckland Star |volume=45 |issue=32 |date=6 February 1914 |page=12 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19140206.2.106}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|7|3|1914|2|3|df=yes}} | death_place = Devon, England | nationality = | other_names = Fix | occupation = Designer and illustrator | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | awards = }}
'''Felix Runcie Kelly''' (3 February 1914 – 3 July 1994) was a New Zealand-born graphic designer, painter, stage designer, interior designer and illustrator who lived the majority of his life in the United Kingdom. He sometimes signed his illustration and cartoon work '''Fix'''.
== Early life == Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Kelly was the second son of Felix Vincent Kelly, a prosperous engineer, and his much younger wife, Hortense Agnes Kelly née Runcie. Kelly attended King's College but was mostly home-schooled in his younger years. He trained as a graphic artist and designer and also sold the occasional cartoon. His father went bankrupt in 1933 and his mother left him to live in England. Kelly left New Zealand in 1935 and joined his mother in London. He never returned to New Zealand.
In London Kelly was soon employed as a graphic designer at Lintas, the advertising wing of Unilever. At the outbreak of the Second World War he enlisted in the Royal Air Force where he became a navigating officer.<ref name="Obit">{{Cite web | last = Harling | first = Amanda | title = Obituary: Felix Kelly | work = The Independent | date = 6 July 1994 | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-felix-kelly-1411942.html| access-date = 31 March 2012}}</ref> In 1943 he suffered a severe illness that ended his active service<ref>{{Cite web | last = Adair | first = Everl | title = Felix Kelly (1914–1994) | work = Permanent Collections | publisher = RW Norton Art Foundation | url = http://www.rwnaf.org/collections/artist?artist=352 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120909214227/http://www.rwnaf.org/collections/artist?artist=352 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 9 September 2012 | access-date = 31 March 2012 }}</ref> and resulted in Kelly focusing on his painting.
== Artistic career == Kelly's paintings were influenced by the Surrealists. His specialisation in domestic architecture and regular commissions saw him develop a romantic style that found more favour with his clientele and often included a number of recurring motifs such as red and white striped deckchairs, and items of mechanical engineering such as hot air balloons, paddle steamers, railways, trains, trams, and lighting fixtures. His paintings were meticulously executed. Houses were painted to an architecturally accurate standard but often contrasted with an untamed, almost sinister landscape.
Kelly's first one-man show was in 1943 at the Lefevre Gallery. This was a success. Herbert Read, the writer and art critic, bought a painting and invited Kelly to illustrate the second edition of his short novel, The Green Child.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Felix Kelly – A Kiwi at Brideshead | work = Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery Education Information Sheet | publisher = Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery | url = http://www.hbmag.co.nz/item/felix_kelly_info_sheet.pdf | access-date = 31 March 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Kelly accepted the commission. Read returned the favour by writing the introduction to the book ''Paintings by Felix Kelly'' published in 1946 by Falcon Press.<ref name="Obit"/> In 1944 a larger exhibition of Kelly's works opened at the same gallery with works by Lucian Freud and Julian Trevelyan in adjoining rooms.<ref>{{Cite book | title = New paintings and drawings by Lucian Freud, Felix Kelly and Julian Trevelyan | publisher = Lefevre Gallery | year = 1944 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c4QrHAAACAAJ | access-date = 31 March 2012}}</ref>
Kelly accepted numerous commissions for paintings, murals and for illustration work. His commissions led him to visit and stay at many of the grandest country houses in the United Kingdom. His personality, wit, and charm ensured he was often invited back by his wealthy clients and, in some cases, developed into lifelong friendships. In 1947 he was invited to the United States by the New York gallery Portraits, Inc. Condé Nast Publications commissioned him to paint a number of important American houses and the publication of these works led to more commissions in the United States. The same year he also illustrated for the Lilliput magazine.<ref>{{Cite web | title = The Province of Pleasure | work = Lilliput | year = 1947 | url = http://www.fulltable.com/vts/m/mag/lill/kelly/a.htm | access-date = 31 March 2012}}</ref> He fulfilled commissions in the UK, United States, Russia, North Africa, the Far East, and the Caribbean. In addition to painting he was often in demand as a muralist and interior designer. His own apartment was photographed and featured in magazines a number of times. He completed a mural for the banqueting hall of the Royal Palace, Kathmundu, Nepal,<ref name="Birchall">{{Cite web | last = Birchall | first = John | title = Felix Kelly: Visions of Haunted Houses | work = Books in Wernicke | date = 11 November 2011 | url = http://www.blogger-index.com/16376766-books-in-wernicke | access-date = 2 April 2012 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130215143727/http://www.blogger-index.com/16376766-books-in-wernicke | archive-date = 15 February 2013 | url-status = dead }}</ref> murals in a number of Union Castle<ref>{{Cite web | title = RMS Windor Castle – A description by Union-Castle Line | work = On Board | publisher = Ocean Liner Museum | year = 1960 | url = http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Windsor%20Description.htm | access-date = 2 April 2012 | archive-date = 3 October 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111003080940/http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Windsor%20Description.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> and Cunard liners, but probably his most well known commission was the four murals painted in the Garden Hall at Castle Howard in 1982. These murals were commissioned by George Howard and paid for with the location fee from the Brideshead Revisited television production. Kelly also designed the Kelly car at Castle Howard, a little fairground-style train for conveying visitors round the grounds. Kelly also worked on developing architectural ideas for his clientele. He produced an artist's impression of a Palladian temple for Sebastian de Ferranti, who then worked with various architects to realise the design. de Ferranti chose Julian Bicknell to build the house which was completed in 1986<ref>{{Cite web | title = Henbury Hall | work = Palladio and Britain | publisher = Royal Institute of British Architects | url = http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Palladio/PalladianBritain/VillasInBritain/VillaRotondasInfluence/HenburyHall.aspx | access-date = 2 April 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120322072550/http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Palladio/PalladianBritain/VillasInBritain/VillaRotondasInfluence/HenburyHall.aspx | archive-date = 22 March 2012 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Later Kelly worked on the Cave, a modern grotto, at Henbury Hall. Kelly remodelled the house of Sir Michael Blake at Cornhill-on-Tweed and designed it as a Gothic dowerhouse. On the request of Charles, Prince of Wales Kelly produced an artist's impression of an improved design of the Prince of Wales' residence Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. This became the inspiration of the remodelling of Highgrove.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Obituaries: Peter Falconer | work = The Telegraph | date = 5 February 2003 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1421095/Peter-Falconer.html | access-date = 2 April 2012}}</ref>
Kelly also produced set designs for a number of theatre productions including: * Production: ''A Day by the Sea'', 1953, the Haymarket. This production starred Sybil Thorndike and John Gielgud<ref name="Obit"/> * Production: World premier of the Opera ''Nelson'', 1954, Sadler's Wells Theatre<ref>{{Cite book | last = Mullin | first = Michael | title = Design by Motley | publisher = Associated University Presse | year = 1996 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cVqUizkMUrEC&q=%22Felix+Kelly%22&pg=PA225 | isbn = 9780874135695 | access-date = 31 March 2012}}</ref> * Production: ''The Merchant of Venice'', 1960–61, the Old Vic<ref>{{Cite book | last = Rowell | first = George | title = The Old Vic Theatre: A History | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1993 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_iQ1Ikni9WgC&q=%22Felix+Kelly%22&pg=PA177 | isbn = 9780521346252 | access-date = 31 March 2012}}</ref> * Production: ''The Last Joke'', 1960, the Phoenix <ref>{{Cite web | last = Bassett | first = Donald | title = Felix Kelly, Herbert Read and Neo-Romanticism | work = British Art Journal | date = 22 September 2007 | url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Felix+Kelly,+Herbert+Read+and+Neo-Romanticism.-a0173712725 | access-date = 2 April 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Kelly illustrated a number of books including a very successful collaboration his friend Elizabeth Burton whose four-volume series on the domestic interiors and furnishings of Elizabethans, Jacobeans, Georgians and early Victorians<ref name="Obit"/> ideally fit Kelly's aesthetic. His tendency towards the surreal and sinister was reflected in the dust jacket work he did for Faber and Faber's ''Best of'' series including ''Best Horror Stories'' (1957), ''Best Detective Stories'' (1959), and ''Best Tales of Terror'' (1962), as well as a beautiful wrap-around dust jacket - plus all internal illustrations - for ''Haunted Houses'' (1956) by Joseph Braddock.<ref name="Birchall"/> He also illustrated * ''Twilight Stories'' (1947) by Rhoda Broughton * ''A Strange Adventure in the Life of Miss Laura Mildmay'' (1947) by J Sheridan Le Fanu * ''The Desperate Art: a novel'' (1955) by John Rosenberg * ''Pilgrim's pleasure: the West Country'' (1959) by Alan Ivimey * ''London'' (1960) by Ivor Brown * ''Castle Howard'' (1972) by George Howard * ''Lincolnshire churches: Their past and their future'' edited by Henry Thorold
== Death == Kelly was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1992 and died in Devon in 1994. His partner, the garden designer Vernon Russell-Smith inherited his estate.<ref>{{cite web |last=Herrick |first=Linda |title=The adventures of Felix Kelly |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=28 February 2010 |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10629104 |access-date=2 April 2012}}</ref>
== Work in Public collections == * Kelly's archive of sketches, photographs and papers is held by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, who also own 2 paintings<ref>{{Cite web | title = Person: Kellie, Felix Runcie | work = Collections Online | publisher = Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa| url = http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/party.aspx?irn=5772 | access-date = 3 April 2012}}</ref> *The RW Norton Art Foundation owns 23 paintings<ref>{{Cite web | title = Felix Kelly | publisher = RW Norton Art Foundation | url = http://www.rwnaf.org/artists/gallery?numPages=2&artist=352&page=1 | access-date = 3 April 2012 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130415201733/http://www.rwnaf.org/artists/gallery?numPages=2&artist=352&page=1 | archive-date = 15 April 2013 | url-status = dead }}</ref> *Hawke's Bay Museum and Art Gallery owns 8 paintings<ref>{{Cite web | title = Press Release: Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery, Napier Receives Major Gift | publisher = Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery | url = http://www.hbmag.co.nz/docs/news_press/felix_kelly.pdf | access-date = 3 April 2012 | archive-date = 8 February 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130208065445/http://hbmag.co.nz/docs/news_press/felix_kelly.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> *Various British public institutions own 7 paintings<ref>{{Cite web | title = Felix Runcie Kelly | work = Art UK | url = https://artuk.org/search/search/search/keyword:felix-runcie-kelly | access-date = 3 April 2012}}</ref> * A second Kelly archive that consists of the research papers of Kelly academic, Dr Donald Bassett, as well as original Kelly material is available at the E H McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/archives/35295 <ref name="Website article">{{cite web |last1=Bassett |first1=Dr Donald |title=The Fantastical World of Felix Kelly: A Life and an Archive |url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/article/the-fantastical-world-of-felix-kelly-a-life-and-an-archive |website=Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki |date=7 November 2022 |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref>
==References== <references />
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Felix}} Category:1914 births Category:1994 deaths Category:New Zealand painters Category:New Zealand interior designers Category:New Zealand scenic designers Category:20th-century New Zealand illustrators Category:New Zealand surrealist artists Category:New Zealand expatriates in England