Vanessa Bell Overview

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the aesthetic and intellectual world of England belonged to the Bloomsbury group. By now its members are household names: Bertrand Russell, Clive Bell, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf. Their writings alone speak volumes... [more]

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the aesthetic and intellectual world of England belonged to the Bloomsbury group. By now its members are household names: Bertrand Russell, Clive Bell, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf. Their writings alone speak volumes about the Bloomsbury penchant for experimentalism, bohemianism, and torrid love affairs. But the group's visual element was just as colorful; among the artists, Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell was arguably the most prominent. Bell's career serves as an example of how incestuous the Bloomsbury clan could be, both artistically and personally. She married writer Clive Bell but also had relationships with artists Duncan Grant and Roger Fry. Her lovers seem to have exerted a great deal of influence on her work. Fry's innovative Omega workshops were a forum for Bell's forays into furniture and textile design. Fry also steered her towards a Post-Impressionist painting style by introducing her to French artists such as Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse. But it is Grant (who would eventually wind up her life partner) whose presence can be felt in Bell's attraction to natural themes. Bell wanted to dismantle the tony floridity of Victorian art. Her designs -- on everything from curtains and screens to dust covers for her sister's publications -- worked according to the premise that mundane artifacts should be considered art. Her design aesthetic consists of highly regular abstract motifs. In the visually rich printed linen "Cracow" (1913), varying lines and arcs make up small, patterned blocks that repeat to form a larger pattern. Her later oil paintings continue her interest in tight patterning. Bell imbues traditional landscapes and figures with a formal simplicity. In paintings like "Interior With a Table" (1921), objects appear as thick blocks of vibrant color. Art critic Whitney Chadwick has compared Bell's paintings to the early works of Kandinsky and Mondrian, but Bell's sensibility is warmer. Her color harmonies have the lushness of jewels. Bell infused her paintings and design work with a lyrical richness that celebrates the sensuality of everyday things. [show less]