CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
One of the studies most pertinent to Vanessa Bell’s domestic work is Griselda Pollock’s “Modernity and the spaces of femininity.” In the article, Pollock maps the cultural hierarchy of modernity which developed in Paris at the end of the nineteenth-century. Pollock articulates the social and economic advantages of the public sphere of the male versus the private sphere of the female and how the former has been privileged in histories of modernism. The notions of modernity, Pollock argues, are embodied in famous articles of the time such as Charles Baudelaire’s “The Painter of Modern Life.” Written in 1859, the article is a veritable call to artists to not only paint modern life but to experience it. Urban scenes …show more content…
With the growth of suburban living, women were increasingly perceived as both the producers and consumers of this new domestic culture, a wealth of literary sources on decorating the home and the need for feminine spaces of creativity aimed towards a predominately female audience. As someone raised in Victorian-era London, this domestic culture emerged as a new aesthetic outlet for Vanessa Bell. Her works produced between the years of 1910-1915, directly reflect this marked social change. Consider works such as Conversation (1913-1916) (Figure 1), which portrays a monumental, fascinating glimpse into her interest in the manipulation of the interior space, one where women could converse in highly intense and intelligent conversation. Note also, how Bell has turned the interior scene of the women into an experiment in abstract form and shape. This interest in abstraction clearly derived from her exposure to artists such as Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso after her visit to the first Post-Impressionist exhibition, Manet and the Post-Impressionists in 1910. Curated by Roger Fry at London’s Grafton Galleries, the exhibition, which ran from November 8th, 1910 until January 15th, 1911, had a tremendous impact on the young artist. It was here that Bell embarked upon a period of abstraction, incorporating and expanding lessons of cubism and fauvism, which embraced the …show more content…
The only major scholarship on the artist is a biographical account of her life that was written in 1983 by art historian and leading authority on the Bloomsbury group, Frances Spalding. While the work provides a detailed account of Bell’s life, the reappraisal of her life does little to re-examine the work of the artist and the ways in which it has been marginalized. Consider too, Jan Marsh’s Bloomsbury Women: Distinct Figures in Life and Art (1996), a work which discusses the women of Bloomsbury and attempts to argue their place within the group. While the book provides biographical insights into the life of Vanessa Bell, offering photographs of her childhood and quotes from her journals and letters, the author does little to let women stand alone as pivotal players in twentieth-century art. The author consistently links their creativity and achievements to their male counterparts. The forward, written by Frances Partridge, confirms this view, writing, “this book gives plenty of room to the men of Bloomsbury; after all it was among these men that Bloomsbury first saw the light and it is to their credit that they welcomed the Stephen sisters among them.” Not only is Vanessa Bell credited as a key founder in the formation of the
INTRODUCTION
One of the studies most pertinent to Vanessa Bell’s domestic work is Griselda Pollock’s “Modernity and the spaces of femininity.” In the article, Pollock maps the cultural hierarchy of modernity which developed in Paris at the end of the nineteenth-century. Pollock articulates the social and economic advantages of the public sphere of the male versus the private sphere of the female and how the former has been privileged in histories of modernism. The notions of modernity, Pollock argues, are embodied in famous articles of the time such as Charles Baudelaire’s “The Painter of Modern Life.” Written in 1859, the article is a veritable call to artists to not only paint modern life but to experience it. Urban scenes …show more content…
With the growth of suburban living, women were increasingly perceived as both the producers and consumers of this new domestic culture, a wealth of literary sources on decorating the home and the need for feminine spaces of creativity aimed towards a predominately female audience. As someone raised in Victorian-era London, this domestic culture emerged as a new aesthetic outlet for Vanessa Bell. Her works produced between the years of 1910-1915, directly reflect this marked social change. Consider works such as Conversation (1913-1916) (Figure 1), which portrays a monumental, fascinating glimpse into her interest in the manipulation of the interior space, one where women could converse in highly intense and intelligent conversation. Note also, how Bell has turned the interior scene of the women into an experiment in abstract form and shape. This interest in abstraction clearly derived from her exposure to artists such as Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso after her visit to the first Post-Impressionist exhibition, Manet and the Post-Impressionists in 1910. Curated by Roger Fry at London’s Grafton Galleries, the exhibition, which ran from November 8th, 1910 until January 15th, 1911, had a tremendous impact on the young artist. It was here that Bell embarked upon a period of abstraction, incorporating and expanding lessons of cubism and fauvism, which embraced the …show more content…
The only major scholarship on the artist is a biographical account of her life that was written in 1983 by art historian and leading authority on the Bloomsbury group, Frances Spalding. While the work provides a detailed account of Bell’s life, the reappraisal of her life does little to re-examine the work of the artist and the ways in which it has been marginalized. Consider too, Jan Marsh’s Bloomsbury Women: Distinct Figures in Life and Art (1996), a work which discusses the women of Bloomsbury and attempts to argue their place within the group. While the book provides biographical insights into the life of Vanessa Bell, offering photographs of her childhood and quotes from her journals and letters, the author does little to let women stand alone as pivotal players in twentieth-century art. The author consistently links their creativity and achievements to their male counterparts. The forward, written by Frances Partridge, confirms this view, writing, “this book gives plenty of room to the men of Bloomsbury; after all it was among these men that Bloomsbury first saw the light and it is to their credit that they welcomed the Stephen sisters among them.” Not only is Vanessa Bell credited as a key founder in the formation of the