The Annunciation by Vanessa Bell,St. Michael and All Angels ChurchBerwick, East Sussex, England
(Angelica Bell and her friend Chattie Salaman were models*)
a picture perfect of Bloomsbury's influences
Birtwell print on Ossie Clark dress
Birtwell print on Ossie Clark dress
"the drawing room has no carpet or wall paper, curtains some blue and some white, & a Louis XV bed." Lytton Strachey as he first remembered early Bloomsbury decoration
"We have been putting up violet-orange curtains as fast as we could. They are rather sketchy in consequence but full of emotion."
Vanessa Bell on the decoration of Virginia Woolf's summer retreat- Little Talland
"I am very busy inside the house, putting up curtains,etc...I have just been getting a bright reddish orange stuff for curtains for the sitting room, to be lined and bordered in mauve."
Vanessa Bell on the decoration of Virginia Woolf's summer retreat- Little Talland
"I am very busy inside the house, putting up curtains,etc...I have just been getting a bright reddish orange stuff for curtains for the sitting room, to be lined and bordered in mauve."
Vanessa Bell on her decoration of Charleston
Seguillada -Bathing
by Duncan Grant (1911)
(this breathtaking color palette recurs throughout the Bloomsbury artists' work)
Seguillada -Bathing
by Duncan Grant (1911)
(this breathtaking color palette recurs throughout the Bloomsbury artists' work)
(this description from the Nasher Museum's exhibition notes on A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artisit in American Collection.)
"Nearly a century ago, the Bloomsbury group first took hold of the cultural imagination, their name becoming synonymous with wit, intelligence, political activism, and avant-garde art and literature. "Bloomsbury," named for a then slightly disreputable section of London surrounding the University, was centered on writers such as Leonard and Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and Clive Bell; economist John Maynard Keynes; artists Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, and Dora Carrington; and other notable personalities who circulated in their orbit including E.M. Forster, D.H. Lawrence, Bertrand Russell, and Wyndham Lewis."
My viewing of the Nasher's Bloomsbury exhibition sparked a renewed fascination with the artists & their art. This avant garde gathering first inhabited a townhouse in London's Bloomsbury. The Bloomsbury group then established themselves at Charleston- a rambling house away from the stares of prying eyes,social mores and dictums. What occurred at Charleston was a cult of sorts- centering around two sisters Vanessa and Virginia Stephen, daughters of the beautiful Julia Prinsep Stephen (born Jackson) and great nieces of famed photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Their father, Sir Leslie Stephen, was an eminent editor, critic and biographer, mother Julia was equally well connected. Vanessa and Virginia, through their mother, were descendants of an attendant to Marie Antoinette and Julia's family had left their mark as models for Pre-Raphaelite artists and early photographers as well. Raised in this seemingly idyllic atmosphere-things are not always as them seem-in later years the girls set out on their own as soon as their father died-something unheard of in the staid Victorian world they grew up in.
Bloomsbury was there destination.
Enter Roger Fry “the most open-minded man I ever met. . . . This made him willing to hear what anyone had to say even about questions on which he was a recognized authority, even though ‘anyone’ might be a schoolboy or a housemaid.” (Clive Bell)
Fry had studied at Cambridge, followed by the Academie Julian in Paris and had traveled throughout Italy. Artist and art critic (dubbed the father figure of Bloomsbury) his first major book was a study of Giovanni Bellini, Roger Fry changed artist Vanessa Stephen's world for her- introducing her to the Post-Impressionists and influencing her work forever.
Julia at age 10
Edward Burne-Jones, Merlin
Julia as model
(image from artarchive.com)
Julia as model
(image from artarchive.com)
Virginia Stephen Woolf**
Vanessa Stephen Bell**
The Conversation
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell
To look further into this heady circle & delve into their relevance today, I asked Lisa Borgnes-Giramonti to join me for a Q & A.
Lisa's blog A Bloomsbury Life gives readers a yummy glimpse of her own modern day Charleston home christened the Kenmore Arms.
The Seasons
in friend Maynard Keynes (Bloomsbury member) King's College rooms by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant
Lisa Borgnes Giramonti intricate needlework
Lisa Borgnes Giramonti intricate needlework
Vanessa Bell-Interior with a Table
LBG:Such a great question! What makes Charleston House so special to so many people, I think, is that the art there was not confined to frames. The environment itself became their experimental canvas. They painted on walls, they painted on furniture, they needlepointed cushions, they decorated lampshades, books, tables, screens, trays and crockery and more. They were obsessive about their surroundings and felt compelled to be adorn and beautify everything. In a way, they behaved more like decorators at times than like artists. They believed that the enjoyment of beautiful objects was one of life’s chief pleasures. The result is both a celebration of the individual and a watershed moment for interior design, because so much of their art was created for private and not public consumption.
Duncan Grant Textile Design
Virginia Nicholson Granddaughter of Vanessa Bell at Charleston
from the Daily Mail 2008
Roger Fry-design for a carpet
Cressida Bell's Design for a rug from Christopher Farr
and below her fabrics
The Dancers
Duncan Grant
PGT:Comment on the relevance of Bloomsbury today, and do you think they are known to most of today’s young style seekers?
the Circle of friends Bloomsbury**
a young circle of friendsMule (known collectively)
LBG:Despite occasional articles about the Bloomsbury Group over the years (even in such mainstream magazines as Vogue, Elle and the late Domino), I think they have receded a bit from public perception, certainly among today’s younger style seekers. But I don’t see this as especially alarming. Every generation wants to discover their own inspirations, and the more Bloomsbury lurks in the shadows now, the better the chance that a new set will seek it out and make it their own. Think of how style seekers in the 1960’s brought back Indian Mughal art and Nehru suits, and how in the 1970’s it was all about Morocco (think Renzo Mongiardino’s Eastern-influenced room for Lee Radziwill). The Bloomsbury Group is such a rich source for so many facets of art and design that I don’t believe it will ever fade away…it’s just lying semi-dormant, waiting for a new generation to hail it as their own.
PGT: What life lessons can we take from the Bloomsbury group?
from Bohemian Style by Elizabeth Wilhide
LBG:They believed in the magic of dazzling conversation, romantic freedom and life-long friendships.
They were all interior decorators in one way or another, seeking to express themselves creatively through their surroundings.
Clive Bell's Library decorated by Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant
They considered a comfortable home one of life’s supreme pleasures.
They had a joyful appreciation for beautiful objects and the power of good design.
from the Berwick Church
They believed in the liberating potential of color.
a beautiful door detail from Lisa's home
PGT:According to nephew Quentin Bell- Virginia Woolf’s brand of feminism was a disappointment to later feminists, she seemed to shy away from the fist and show more mocking, smiling, insinuating. Is this still a good way to get that message across?
a sophisticated VW
I am reminded of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party with Virginia Woolf having a place at the table.(1974–79).The outward expression of the feminist artist's homage to all that came before her.
Chicago's The Dinner Party
mixed media of ceramic porcelain textile. the Brooklyn Museum
a Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation
Virginia looking casually domestic, photographed by VanessaPGT:Does it seem to you that Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant were in competition with one another artistically, or rather were they soul mates in art?
their self portraits
their portraits of each other
LBG:I think they were definitely influenced by each other, which is not surprising considering they lived together and were so intertwined in each others lives. And though occasionally their subject matter was shared, their responses were still quite individual. Some still-lifes, like Duncan’s “The Mantelpiece” (1914), and Vanessa’s version entitled “Still Life On Corner of a Mantelpiece” (1914) are similar at first glance; however, closer examination reveals a restless quality to Grant’s painting, whereas Bell seems to offer a more graceful and measured take on the subject.
In terms of their relationship as artists, I think Grant greatly enjoyed the stable domestic life that Vanessa provided for him. Themes like harmony, balance and elevated visions of everyday life are common Bloomsbury motifs that both felt impelled to explore through paint. I think they found great pleasure in working side-by-side.
PGT:It definitely seems these two did find soul mates,-life partners- and their art thrived in their domestic arrangements-especially in light of the horror stories of many male artists that subordinated the art of their female wives and lovers.
Vanessa Bell, Still Life on Corner of a Mantelpiece
& Duncan Grant's The Mantelpiece
PGT:Was blood thicker than water with the Bloomsbury group? It seems the sisters relied on each other more heavily than any other two- or was this just sisterhood among men?
the sistersVirginia painted by Vanessa 1912
LBG:Virginia and Vanessa, despite their occasional differences, had an unbreakable bond of love and support. Hermione Lee expounds at length about their dysfunctional childhood which undoubtedly acted as an indissolvable glue in their relationship. But as for the rest of the Bloomsbury Group, blood - and marriage bonds - were definitely not thicker than water, especially when it came to relationships. In their quest for artistic freedom, everything was fair game. Just take a look at Vanessa Bell’s open affair with Duncan Grant amid a group household that included her husband, Clive Bell. Or David “Bunny” Garnett’s May-December marriage to Angelica Grant, his former lover’s (Duncan Grant) daughter. The web was tangled indeed.
Vanessa with her two Bell sons
Duncan with his daughter by Vanessa, AngelicaVanessa Bell, The Artist's Daughter
PGT:Henry James commented that Vanessa Bell’s designs for the Hogarth Press book jackets were “optical echoes of the books that a literary history should listen to.” Books are a passion for you-does the art on a jacket influence your purchase?
LBG:Book jackets do influence me, I have to admit. If I am wavering over something and there’s a well designed cover staring me in the face, I often find myself plunking it down at the register or clicking on it on Amazon.
LGB: a Room of my own .
PGT: My Own Room-the Library
As young women embarking on the extraordinary lives their Bloomsbury was"...the most beautiful, the most exciting, the most romantic place in the world."(Virginia Woolf) It opened a world of their own," all that seemed to matter was at last we were free, had rooms of our own and space in which to be alone." (Vanessa Bell)
Omega Workshop Print
Ossie Clark, Celia Birtwell print
Vogue 1960
Spring-Vanessa Bell
Ossie Clark-Celia Birtwell print
Vogue 1960
"Many of the late twentieth-century and contemporary trends are in themselves tributes to the influence of the Charleston artists, to the Diaghilev ballet designers, to the aesthetes, to Omega, and to the members of the Arts and Crafts movement. The modern fashionable interior pays homage to a creative urge amongst a relatively small sub-section of society in the early decades of the twentieth century. So much of what those artists did has been assimilated and re-assimilated, that one should not be surprised that their tastes are yet again being re-cycled for the World of Interiors readership, even if their origins are not always acknowledge." (from Virginia Nicholson's Among the Bohemians)Emma Watson in vintage Ossie Clark
Celia Birtwell print
Celia Birtwell print
Celia Birtwell for the Topshop
Tricia Guild, Osborne & Little website
Ossie Clark, Fall 2009
from Style.com
the OMEGA exhibition
The Courtauld Gallery in London opened its exhibition Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19 in June and runs through most of September. The Courtauld Gallery commissioned Absolute Zero Degrees to create and produce wallpaper inspired by the work of The Omega Workshop- Bloomsbury's commercial workshop producing Bloomsbury artists' fabrics, pottery, furniture, etc.
Omega
So much of what those(bloomsbury) artists did has been assimilated and re-assimilated, that one should not be surprised that their tastes are yet again being re-cycled for the World of Interiors readership, even if their origins are not always acknowledge." (from Virginia Nicholson's Among the Bohemians)
* image from this site
** image from wikipedia
