This accompanying publication beautifully showcases the oil paintings, photographs, ceramics, fabrics, decorative screens and works on paper in a stunning display of Vanessa Bell's vibrant and wide-ranging talent. Long overshadowed by the complexity of her family life and romantic entanglements, the editors assess Bell in the context of her relationship with sister, Virginia Woolf, and as muse and confidant to Roger Fry and Duncan Grant but ultimately present an intrepid artist deserving of fresh consideration.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Vanessa Bell," held at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, February 8-June 4, 2017.
If Bell's work is put together on its own, and not in the shadows of her friends, it shows her to be a significant and exciting artist. This new show, the largest so far dedicated solely to her, has amassed an impressing collection of these works - around 70 paintings, plus artifacts of all kinds - and makes a convincing case for her historical re-evaluation.
-- (03/07/2017)