Vanessa Bell

Vanessa Bell was a central figure within the Bloomsbury Group and lent to it a stability and coherence it might otherwise have lacked. A talented artist, she held sway with her acuity, integrity and a sense of humour. Yet she remained inscrutable, glimpses of her life only appearing through her sister, Virginia Woolf.

In this authorised biography, Frances Spalding draws upon a mass of unpublished documents to reveal Vanessa Bell’s considerable achievements, in both her art and her increasingly unorthodox life. A sympathetic account is given of her marriage to Clive Bell, her affair with Roger Fry and the complex nature of her lasting relationship with Duncan Grant. It is a fitting tribute to a woman of great paradox, wit and honesty.

Vanessa Bell was a central figure within the Bloomsbury Group and lent to it a stability and coherence it might otherwise have lacked. A talented artist, she held sway with her acuity, integrity and a sense of humour. Yet she remained inscrutable, glimpses of her life only appearing through her sister, Virginia Woolf.

In this authorised biography, Frances Spalding draws upon a mass of unpublished documents to reveal Vanessa Bell’s considerable achievements, in both her art and her increasingly unorthodox life. A sympathetic account is given of her marriage to Clive Bell, her affair with Roger Fry and the complex nature of her lasting relationship with Duncan Grant. It is a fitting tribute to a woman of great paradox, wit and honesty.

Frances Spalding read art history at the University of Nottingham and lectured on the subject for ten years before becoming a freelance art historian and biographer. She is currently editor of the Charleston Magazine.