Vanessa Bell
(1879 - 1961) |
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Figurative Narratives, Abstractions, Interior Scenes, Still-lifes Art Work
| Name: |
Vanessa Bell |
| Gender: |
Female |
| Place of Birth: |
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| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1879 |
| Death: |
1961 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Figurative Narratives, Abstractions, Interior Scenes, Still-lifes |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
Oil |
| Style: |
Post Impressionism |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
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Biography
Bell's abstract works in paint and cut paper developed alongside her design work for the Omega Workshops that she set up with Roger Fry and Duncan Grant in 1913. Bell's watercolor design for an Omega fabric on graph paper was included in the exhibition Vorticism and its Allies at the Hayward Gallery in 1974. The important exhibitions of Post-Impressionist works organized by Fry in 1910 and 1912 influenced Bell's love of French art. It is telling that, writing to Fry of visiting an exhibition in 1911, Bell's preferred painter worked in Paris: 'We went to the New English yesterday. My word, what a show! Of course Steer is quite done for, and the John seemed to me to be some rather sentimental drawings badly put together... As for Henry Lamb ... It's simply too deadly - academic drawing... Miss John seemed to me much more interesting than anyone.' Bell revered Cezanne, and the solidity and structure of some of her still life and landscape paintings show her knowledge of his work. Matisse's influence is noticeable in works such as Studland Beach (c.1912, Tate) and the folding screen Bathers in a Landscape (1913-14, Victoria and Albert Museum), with their simplified forms, striking color and heavy outlines.
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Samples of Work
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