BLOOMSBURY GROUP AND OTHERS

One fascination that I have recently had, is that of the lives, lovers and work of the Bloomsbury Group members, a group in the first half of the 20th century, consisting of artists, writers, intellectuals and philosophers connected with Cambridge University and King’s College London, and who lived near the district of Bloomsbury, London. Famous for their connection with Lady Ottoline Morrell, whose husband Phillip Morrell, was MP for Burnley, and as the First World War broke out, the male members of the group who were largely homosexual and conscientious objectors took refuge in the Morrells Garsington Manor.

One of the members who was an artist, was the post impressionist artist Duncan Grant, who was homosexual, a conscientious objector, and who with his lover, David ‘Bunny’ Garnet, set up as fruit farmer during the First World War. Grant painted many subjects during his active period of being an artist, and some of his works shown below, convey the variety of his subjects, spanning from portrait, to interiors, to still lifes and landscapes. In particular, I am drawn most to his work with interiors and still life, depicting a rather primitive style, using colour shapes and form to create beautifully blended blocks and patterns into one whole painting. His ‘The Bedside Lamp’ shows dedication to detail and precision throughout the entire painting and not just one focal point, and the shades of colour he uses, produce happy emotions and moods connected with the feeling of the arrival of Spring, which is also emphasised with his strong application of the paint

Dancing Figure, Duncan Grant

Garden Path in Spring, Duncan Grant

Interior, Duncan Grant

Still Life with a Bust of Vanessa Bell

The Bedside Lamp, Duncan Grant

The Pink Vase, Duncan Grant

Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant

Window, South of France, Duncan Grant

Another artist, who spent a large amount of time in her life with Duncan Grant, was Vanessa Bell, the sister of Virginia Woolf, who set up house with Grant during the First World War, having a deep connection and platonic relationship, similar to that of Dora Carrington and Lytton Strachey. Having met the Bloomsbury Group through her brother Toby Stephen, Grant and Vanessa had an instant connection with their love of art, and shared taste, colours and style, sometimes painting together. Bell’s style is much more polished and sharp than that of Grant’s, produce finer details and pronounced details within her portrait work, and in particular, her portrait of Dora Morris, gives a much more refined and feminine touch to the entire painting within the dressing table and the clothing of the model, which gives a style of elegance and stance. Also, Bells ‘Still Life on Corner of a Mantelpiece’ shows an accomplished style rather in a cubist and shapely form, quite taking a still life form of the Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka. With the sharp bright pastel colours and the crisp lines and form, Bell produces a style which I am drawn to these days and creates something that I would like to practice with in the future.

Dahlias and Canterbury Bells, Vanessa Bell

Dora Morris, Vanessa Bell

Interior Scene with Clive Bell and Duncan Grant drinking Wine, Vanessa Bell

Lady with a Book, Vanessa Bell

Leonard Sydney Woolf, Vanessa Bell

Still Life on Corner of a Mantelpiece, Vanessa Bell

The Memoir Club, Vanessa Bell

The Vineyard, Vanessa Bell

In 1918, Bell who was in love with Grant, succeeded in seducing him, as she wanted to have a child with him, and in the Spring that year she fell pregnant with their daughter Angelica. Present at the birth was, David ‘Bunny Garnett’ who was Grant’s lover at the time, even though Garnett was much more heterosexual that bisexual. After the birth, Garnett wrote to Lytton Strachey “I think of marrying it. When she is 20, I shall be 46 – will it be scandalous?” and on 8th May 1942 Angelica and David were married. As Angelica Garnet grew older, she took after both her parents and began painting, and a couple of her still lifes are shown below. I do believe that Garnett took after her mother, producing the delicacy and fragility of the flowers and using soft and gentle colour palette, which give a pretty finish on the pieces and a femininity in style.

Still Life with Poppies

White Daffodils in a Ceramic Jug, Angelica Garnett

Another member of the group closely associated with Vanessa Bell id Roger Fry who began an affair with Bell in 1911 after she recovered from a miscarriage with little love and attention from her husband Clive Bell. They were close throughout the rest of their lives, and even when Bell left Fry to live with Duncan Grant, who she had now fallen in love with. Fry’s well known work was more of a naturalistic style, but as one can see from his work in the 1910s, Fry, experimented with many styles, and produced paintings with a variety of subjects during this period. For myself, my favourite piece would be his ‘the Farm Pond, Charleston’ that explores the use of bold colours, and manipulating these when reflected in water. Also, the style concentrates on tonal values and shape rather than representing a realism approach to the painting, which I believe gives it more charm instead of a literal copy of the scene painted.

The Farm Pond, Charleston, 1918, Roger Fry

Flowers in a Vase, 1919, Roger Fry

Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry

The last artist I wanted to mention, who was not a member of the Bloomsbury Group is Dora Carrington, who had an intimate, platonic relationship with Lytton Strachey, due to the introductions by artist Mark Gertler. Carrington and Strachey lived together for many years but never consummated their deep emotional love for one another, as Strachey was homosexual and Carrington had an intense dislike for her own body and so she felt inferior which made the act of love making impossible. Thankfully none of the disgust for own self stop her from painting, and Carrington painted quite a small amount of paintings for an artist during her lifetime. The paintings shown below are two of my favourite landscapes painted by her, as one depicts volume, form and perspective, as the next is of complete contrast with a 2D, flat appearance where there is an absence of layers or distance. The instrument shown below was painted on the Strachey gramophone, which Carrington decorated when they bought a house in the country together in 1917. As shown in the biopic ‘Carrington’ starring Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce as the couple, one scene shows how Carrington painted many of the walls with different scenes and also the wooden furniture. Even though Carrington was not a member, she is possibly my favourite figure of that group as the devotion to her work and to Lytton were the most important things in her life, and when Strachey died of undiagnosed stomach cancer in January 1932, Carrington saw no more purpose in living without him, and committed suicide two months after by shooting herself with a gun.