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A revelatory biography of the Bloomsbury outsider and influential critic who championed modern art
Detail of a portrait of Clive Bell by Roger Fry circa 1924. Photograph: Alamy
Detail of a portrait of Clive Bell by Roger Fry circa 1924. Photograph: Alamy
Wed 5 May 2021 04.00 EDT
One day when he was looking along his bookshelves, Mark Hussey realised that they contained no biography of Clive Bell. You can see why it would strike the distinguished Bloomsbury scholar as odd. Over the past 50 years a veritable industry of gossipy life-writing has grown up around even the most minor denizens of early-20th-century WC1, to the point where someone who danced with a man who danced with a woman who danced with Leonard Woolf (assuming Woolf ever kicked up his heels) can boast at least two fat biographies bristling with footnotes.
In 1911 Vanessa began a relationship with
Roger Fry, whom the Bells had met the previous year. The relationship developed when Fry nursed Vanessa through illness while on holiday with the Bells in Greece and Turkey. She and Clive had grown apart after the children were born and although they remained friends and Clive continued to support Vanessa financially, he resumed an affair with a previous mistress. Another friend who joined the Bloomsbury Group was
Duncan Grant. Vanessa admired his work and purchased one of his paintings,
The Lemon Gatherers. In time she became close to Grant and he replaced Fry in her affections.