“Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than merely to keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” So wrote Virginia Woolf in her 1928 novel Orlando, about a young nobleman who lives for several centuries, changing sex along the way.
Continue reading “How Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group unbuttoned Britain”Tag: Vanessa Bell
The art of the ménage à trois
Brangelina, Kimye, Hiddleswift… you could be forgiven for thinking the celebrity portmanteau name was an invention of the 21st Century. But today’s creative couples surely have nothing on the delightful ‘PaJaMa’: an amalgam of Paul Cadmas, Jared French and Margaret French, to reflect the interdependence of their relationship and artistic practice. From 1937 on, they lived as a polyamorous trio for 20 years. Continue reading “The art of the ménage à trois”
Legacy: Photographs by Vanessa Bell and Patti Smith, Dulwich Picture Gallery
Being a member of the Bloomsbury Group doesn’t always help your reputation. Now remembered as much for their tangled love lives as their experimental work, Bloomsburies can inspire a degree of hostility for their perceived snobby elitism. Certainly, it’s hard to credit the fact that the painter Vanessa Bell – sister of Virginia Woolf – has never had a major solo show till now. Continue reading “Legacy: Photographs by Vanessa Bell and Patti Smith, Dulwich Picture Gallery”
Charleston: inside the colourful home of the Bloomsbury group
Published in Tatler on November 1, 2017
I wrote a piece on the 100th anniversary of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant moving to Charleston, for the Homes section of Tatler.
