Harald Ambellan

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Harald Ambellan was an artist born in the United States c 1910. His early years of painting were during the Great Depression when, as an unemployed young man, he was employed in state projects during the 1930s painting community centers and murals.

After WWII he settled just outside Paris and lived as a recluse, painting and selling just a few works to survive.

His style, after Matisse, was varied and colorful. His subjects mainly people were painted in oils, watercolors, gouache and crayons.

Occasionally he made paper and moulded impressions sculpted in sand, giving an atmospheric and subtle style and design. His few bronzes were often spherical and rare but hugely popular with collectors and investors.

A quantity of his work was sold in the late 1980s in and around Portobello Road, London in auctions and specialist sales. A small select group of collectors and enthusiasts from the West End to Docklands was formed.

His secret and extremely private nature of his life and work is shrouded in mystery, but a few letters and writings are known to exist.