Manuscripts and typescripts by Vanessa Bell and correspondence to and from Duncan Grant

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB-70-tga-20096
Held at	: Tate Britain   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.tate.org.uk/research/researchservices/archive/ ›
Full title	: Manuscripts and typescripts by Vanessa Bell and correspondence to and from Duncan Grant
Date(s)	: [1928]-2005
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Bell [née Stephen] | Vanessa | 1879–1961 | painter
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Vanessa Bell was born in 1879, daughter of Sir Leslie Stephen and sister of Virginia Woolf. She studied art under Sir Arthur Cope and at the Royal Academy Schools under John Singer Sargent. In 1907 she married Clive Bell and worked mainly in London, Sussex and France. Vanessa Bell exhibited first at the New Gallery in 1905, and at the New English Art Club, the Allied Artists Association and at numerous London galleries. She became a member of the London Group in 1919 and her work was exhibited at the second Post-Impressionist Exhibition in 1912. A central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, she founded the Friday Club in 1905, and was influenced by Roger Fry and by Duncan Grant. As co-director of the Omega Workshops she carried out many decorative projects, particularly with Grant. The impact of Post-Impressionism caused a radical change in her work. Influenced by Matisse she established a leading role as a colourist before 1920. Between 1914-15 she produced some pure abstracts but later returned to a more traditional naturalism and greater realism in works that centred around her friends, still-life and landscapes. Vanessa Bell died in 1961.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

This collection comprises writings by Vanessa Bell, including manuscripts written for the Memoir Club, and correspondence from the Bell family and others with Duncan Grant.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The collection has been arranged into two series:

TGA 20096/1 Writings by Vanessa Bell

TGA 20096/2 Correspondence

Conditions governing access:

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Usual copyright restrictions apply.

Finding aids:

Online and paper catalogue available

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to Tate Archive by Henrietta Garnett, June 2009.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Suzanne Keyte for AIM25 from the Tate Archive catalogue

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with the General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD (G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
2009