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Frances Spalding
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Vanessa Bell: Portrait of the Bloomsbury Artist (Tauris Parke Paperbacks) Paperback – January 30, 2016

by Frances Spalding (Author, Preface)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 56 ratings
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Vanessa Bell is central to the history of the Bloomsbury Group, yet until this authorized biography was written, she largely remained a silent and inscrutable figure. Glimpses of her life appeared mainly through her famous sister, Virginia Woolf, whose letters and diaries frequently mentioned her. In this quality reissue of the definitive biography on the artist, Frances Spalding draws upon a mass of previously unpublished documents to reveal Bell's extraordinary achievements in both her art and her life. She recounts in vivid detail how Bell's joining the Bloomsbury Group - and her exposure to Paris and the radical art of the Post-Impressionists - ran parallel with her increasingly unorthodox personal life between her marriage to Clive Bell, her affair with Roger Fry, her friendship with Duncan Grant and relationship with her sister.

With a inset galley of photographs and pictures of her art, extensive notes, and a select bibliography, this book is a thrilling look at Vanessa Bell’s life and art, and at the growth of the Bloomsbury Group, the gathering of artists and intellectuals who were friends long before they became the famed painters and writers loved by the world.

This edition includes a new preface by the author.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tauris Parke Paperbacks
  4. Publication date
    January 30, 2016
  5. Dimensions
    5.98 x 1.24 x 8.93 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    178453241X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1784532413
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Vanessa Bell emerges from Frances Spalding's sensitive and scholarly biography as an unexpectedly formidable figure...the central portrait is full and generous and it rings wonderfully true.

(The London Times 2016-03-17)

…a compelling life, one worth telling, unusual in its social and intellectual contrasts, formidable in its cast of characters, poignant in its alternations of happiness and despair.

(Spectator 2016-03-17)

"…an excellent biography: it could hardly be bettered... she has brought Vanessa Bell back to life...As a chronicle of human entanglements, and of the ways in which they were resolved, it wil have an enduring fascination...Vanessa Bell adds a new and indispensable dimension to our knowledge of Bloomsbury, and it is very much to be welcomed."

(Times Literary Supplement 2016-03-17)

Book Description

The definitive bio of the Bloomsbury Group founder who was more than Virginia Woolf's sister, but a groundbreaking visual artist in her own right.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tauris Parke Paperbacks; New edition (January 30, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 178453241X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1784532413
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.36 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 1.24 x 8.93 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 56 ratings

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Frances Spalding

Frances Spalding

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
56 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

delia b.
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent writer, fascinating subject
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2019
Verified Purchase
I'm an artist and I've studied art for 30 years (including living in London for a year, and briefly studying the Bloomsbury group), but this book is full of historical information that is brand new to me. I also think the author is a very good writer, so it's very readable and engaging. If you're interested in early 20th C modern art movements, or the history of forgotten/overlooked women artists, this biography is highly recommended.
6 people found this helpful
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fancy
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2018
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Excellent book. So interesting about the artists and writers. Very wild times.
One person found this helpful
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Cassiodorus
4.0 out of 5 stars Learn too much about the biographer
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
Well written, interesting, well researched. But the author impresses his opinions too often. Author is an art historian, and those pertinent opinions are helpful, but not those about social issues, etc. I want to get to know Vanessa Bell, not the biographer.
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D. E. Schellhase
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2016
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As the previous novel, I could not put this book down. Whoever Elena Ferrante is, she is a genius at understanding women and
their relationships.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend it.
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2016
Verified Purchase
Fabulous! Highly recommend it.
2 people found this helpful
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mooonquake
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice clean book - great price. Fast delivery
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2010
Verified Purchase
Sometimes it is impossible to find these older books - Amazon and its sellers are great for finding them. Thank you!
2 people found this helpful
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Kristine Logan
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and reasoned biography
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2008
I love this book and re-read it from time to time. Frances Spalding maintains a very balanced view of Vanessa Bell, avoiding the twin biographic pitfalls of becoming either too fond of or losing respect for her subject. Warmly detailed and psychologically sound, she judges the available information sources shrewdly and brings Vanessa Bell, her circle, and her home (Charleston) beautifully to life. The book shines with honesty, understanding, and knowledge.
17 people found this helpful
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christie dufinetz
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2015
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Interesting read. Missing the dust jacket which when I ordered may have said it did not have.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Bob Perry
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect transaction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2024
Verified Purchase
Course studies - perfect purchase
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2002
5.0 out of 5 stars Passionnante biographie du groupe de Bloomsbury et de son âme , Vanessa Bell.
Reviewed in France on September 3, 2018
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Biographie parfaite, passionnante, érudite mais accessible d’une femme exceptionnelle, Vanessa Bell, sœur de Virginia Woolf.
Portrait impeccable du groupe de Bloomsbury , ce groupe d’amis peintres, économistes, philosophes, écrivains passant avec flamboyance de l'ère victorienne au XX e siècle traversant les années avec audace et imagination.
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Phil H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of the Bloomsbury Artist
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 13, 2022
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Good
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Sheila Laing
5.0 out of 5 stars Explains All.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2015
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If interested in the Bloomsbury Group, you will enjoy this book, very well written, and thanks to letters and diaries available , Frances Spalding conveys to the reader exactly how Vanessa Bell felt and dealt with all the varied emotional issues during her life, an interesting and very enjoyable read
6 people found this helpful
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Sara Paine
4.0 out of 5 stars Vanessa Bell - Artist At The Heart and Soul of Bloomsbury
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2021
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Vanessa Bell (1879 – 1961) was an accomplished modernist painter and interior designer who reached the peak of her popularity in the late 1920s and early 1930s but who is perhaps better-known these days for her unconventional personal life at the centre of the Bloomsbury Group and for being the older sister of writer Virginia Woolf. The Bloomsbury Group, that loosely knit circle of around artists, writers and intellectuals who lived in and around Bloomsbury in London in the early years of the twentieth century, later flocked to meet up at Charleston, the rural farmhouse near Lewes in East Sussex, which she bought in 1916. There they rejected the rigid social and moral codes of Victorian life and enjoyed a freer, alternative Bohemian lifestyle that shocked contemporaries and which has been a subject of endless debate and fascination ever since.

Married to the art critic Clive Bell in 1907, her marriage produced two sons, Julian and Quentin, but was effectively over by 1914 becoming an ‘open’ marriage with both taking lovers throughout their lives. The great love of Vanessa’s life was fellow artist Duncan Grant who remained with her for over forty years, despite his being predominately homosexual and having many male lovers at the same time. Her daughter Angelica, born in 1918, believed her father to be Clive, and only later found out at the age of 17 that it was in fact Duncan, someone she considered at that point to be a close family friend. Angelica later went on to marry David “Bunny” Garnett, a writer and publisher twenty-six years older than herself who – unknown to Angelica - had also been her biological father’s lover, and, who at one point, was her mother’s romantic rival.

I’m not sure this book totally reconciles the contradictions to the two sides of her Vanessa’s character: she is described as quiet, reserved and self-effacing but had an innate ability to attract and retain friends who all used Charleston as a meeting place and often stayed there for considerable amounts of time; she was an early supporter and major contributor to Post-Impressionism, but turned down the chance to meet Picasso when he offered to visit; she could be possessive and obsessive with her children, but was happy to farm them out to domestic staff and resented the daily responsibilities that took her away from painting; she was a pacifist who bought a farmhouse with six acres of land so that her conscientious objector lovers could work as farm labourers and avoid conscription, but also claimed to be so ignorant of politics that she never voted and once at a dinner party asked Asquith (who she failed to recognise, despite him being the Prime Minister at the time) ‘Are you interested in politics?’

This biography chronicles practically every year, if not month, of her life and so gives a very detailed well-rounded picture of the comings and goings of the Bloomsbury Group which Vanessa Bell was at the centre of. It would have been nice to have a had a list of 'dramatis personae' at the back to keep track of everyone, but that's a minor quibble. Not as famous as her better-known sister Virginia Woolf, her life and work deserve a wider audience.
2 people found this helpful
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