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Bell, Vanessa, 1879 - 1961 (painter)

 Person

Dates and places

1879-1961 Bloomsbury; Charleston, Sussex

Sphere of activity

Artist

Relationships

Elder daughter of Leslie and Julia Stephen and sister of Virginia Woolf. Wife of Clive Bell and mother of two sons, Quentin and Julian. Friends with Roger Fry and Duncan Grant.

Other information

Co-director of the Omega workshops with Duncan Grant. Associated with the London Group of Artists and with Keynes' London Artists' Association.

Found in 37 Collections and/or Records:

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 File

Notes on Vanessa Bell and Bloomsbury by Duncan Grant, 1960 - 1969

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/AG/2/5
Scope and Contents

Autograph manuscript notes by Duncan Grant of his feelings on the death of Vanessa Bell, 3 June 1961, with further autograph manuscript notes by Duncan Grant on 'Bloomsbury'. [?1960s]

Dates: 1960 - 1969
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Letters by persons still living may only be read with the written permission of the author. The correspondence between Mrs. Garnett and her late husband, David Garnett, may only be read by permission of the family. For further information, please contact the Archivist.
 Item

Playreading Society Minute Book, 1907 - 1915

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/CHA/5/1
Scope and Contents Minutes, written up by Clive Bell, of the meetings of a play-reading society [?at 40 Gordon Square], with cast lists and comments on the performances by Clive Bell. The players were variously Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell, Walter Lamb, Adrian Stephen, Lytton Strachey and Saxon Sydney-Turner, 1907-9; Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell, Roger and Margery Fry, Duncan Grant, Molly MacCarthy and Saxon Sydney-Turner, 1914-15. For the later period, fewer performance details are recorded. The book was used...
Dates: 1907 - 1915
 File

Prophecies 1943, 1943-12

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/CHA/5/2
Scope and Contents

Predictions about the progress of the war during 1944, written at Christmas 1943 at the instigation of Quentin Bell. Prophecies were contributed by Quentin Bell, Clive Bell, John Maynard Keynes, Max Werner (press cutting ‘Six Point Chart for Victory Year’ from Reynolds News, c. Dec. 1943), Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, Angelica Bell and Leonard Woolf. The file also contains 1 typed letter signed from Leonard Woolf to Vanessa Bell enclosing his prophecy, and 3 envelopes.

Dates: 1943-12
 Item

Sketch book, 1919

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/REF/4/8/10
Scope and Contents

Pencil drawings of Vanessa, Julian and Quentin Bell, French peasants.

Dates: 1919
 Item

Speculations on behalf of Roger Fry, Duncan Grant and the Bells, 1914 - 1920

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/JMK/SE/12
Scope and Contents

Ledger of stock exchange speculations made by J.M. Keynes with a loan from R.E. Fry, with details of transactions made on behalf of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and a letter from Clive Bell asking for financial advice, June 1918; with related correspondence, 1914-20.

Dates: 1914 - 1920
 Item

'The Connaught Square Catechism or Confessions to Mrs Robert Witt', 1916

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/REF/7/6
Scope and Contents

Compiled by 'RR', 1915. It contains printed questionnaires on the best and worst painters etc. completed, to a greater or lesser degree, by Dolores Courtney, Vanessa Bell, E. de Bergen [otherwise Roald Kristian], Clive Bell, Tancred Borenius, Mary Hutchinson, Nina Hamnett, Simon Bussy, Philippa Strachey, Elspeth Champcommunal, Angela Lavelli and 1 unidentified other.

Dates: 1916
 File

'Two sisters: Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell', 1980-11-30

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/GHWR/4/16/11
Scope and Contents

Written for the Charleston Appeal.

Dates: 1980-11-30
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: The majority of the Rylands Papers are readily available to scholars in the Archive Centre. Record consultation is by appointment. Personal letters of living authors may only be consulted with their written permission. Some material is reserved in view of its sensitivity. There is no access to such material for the time being.
 Item

Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant sitting in a garden, 1922 - 1930

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/FCP/7/4/1/432
Scope and Contents

Snapshot of Vanessa Bell in the foreground, sitting in a deckchair looking at a newspaper she holds in her hands. Duncan Grant sits in the background, looking towards the camera.

Dates: 1922 - 1930
 Item

Vanessa Bell standing with Duncan Grant, 1928

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/FCP/7/3/1/68
Scope and Contents

Snapshot of Vanessa Bell (partially cut off from the left edge of the photograph), standing with her hands held together in front of her, wearing a headscarf, smiling and looking down to the right. Duncan Grant stands beside her, with his hands in front of his chest, paint on his dark trousers and jacket, with his head turned towards the camera but his eyes are shut. The location given in the album is Cassis, France.

Dates: 1928
 Item

Watercolour section of interior of room on P Staircase, 1956-08

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/WBC/2
Scope and Contents

Watercolour section of interior of room on P Staircase decorated for John Maynard Keynes by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. Measured and drawn by Crispin Worthington. Recorded on redecoration.

Dates: 1956-08
Conditions Governing Access: From the Sub-Fonds: ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD MAY BE SUBJECT TO RESTRICTIONS. ASK THE ARCHIVISTS FOR MORE INFORMATION.
 Item

Woodcut for 'The Mark on the Wall' by Virginia Woolf, 1920 - 1972

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0272/CHA/4/4
Scope and Contents

The book was first published as 'The Chelsea Book Club Broadside No. 1', c. 1920-22. Reproduced on the premises of Bernard Quaritch Ltd., 25 Sept. 1972.

Dates: 1920 - 1972
 File

World War II forecasts, 1940-04 - 1940-05

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/AG/2/1
Scope and Contents

Autograph manuscript forecasts of the progress of World War II, written by Quentin Bell, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Elizabeth Watson, entitled 'War time prognostication, not to be opened until Christmas 1940'.

Dates: 1940-04 - 1940-05
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Letters by persons still living may only be read with the written permission of the author. The correspondence between Mrs. Garnett and her late husband, David Garnett, may only be read by permission of the family. For further information, please contact the Archivist.
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