The Bloomsbury Group

Description

The most constructive and creative influence on English taste between the two wars, 'The Bloomsbury Group' was a union of friends who transformed British culture with their approach to art, design and society.The Group began the twentieth century with a desire to rebel and challenge what they felt were the religious, artistic, social and sexual taboos of Victorian England. Together they created a revolution in British style that resonates with contemporary painters, writers, actors, designers, fashion editors and publishers. This book explores the impact of Bloomsbury personalities on each other, as well as their legacy to the twenty-first century. Author Frances Spalding demonstrates how this network of artists, lovers and patrons recorded one another obsessively in both words and images. She presents twenty fascinating biographies, all of which are illustrated with paintings and intimate photographs created by members of the Group. Highlighted in her revealing account are: Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Vanessa and Clive Bell, Duncan Grant, Lady Ottoline Morrell, Roger Fry, J.M. Keynes, Lytton Strachey and Dora Carrington.

Frances Spalding is a leading authority on Bloomsbury, and has written biographies of Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. For ten years, she edited the Charleston Magazine and has lectured widely on aspects of Bloomsbury. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Emeritus Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge.