Vanessa Bell
(1879-1961), Painter; sister of Virginia WoolfVanessa Bell (née Stephen)
Sitter in 21 portraits
Artist associated with 14 portraits
The eldest daughter of the literary historian and critic, Leslie Stephen, and his wife, Julia. In 1904, following her widowed father's death, she moved to Bloomsbury with her sister Virginia (later Woolf) and brothers, Thoby and Adrian. Their Thursday evening 'At Homes' marked the beginning of the Bloomsbury Group of artists and writers. In 1907 she married the art critic Clive Bell. This, and her association with Roger Fry led her to embrace a more modern style of painting. She exhibited with the New English Art Club in 1909. Bell formed a lasting relationship with Duncan Grant, her co-director of the Omega Workshop between 1913 and 1919. She was a pivotal player in the new artistic styles emerging at the beginning of the twentieth century, particularly in her radical use of abstraction, colour and form.
by Marcel Gimond
lead cast of bust, 1964, based on a work of circa 1922-1926
NPG 4349
acrylic on paper collaged on panels, 2021-2022
On display in Room 33 on Floor 0 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 7145
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by Unknown photographer
vintage snapshot print, 1910
NPG x136462
by Ray Strachey
film negative, August 1914
NPG x88543
by Ray Strachey
gelatin silver print, August 1914
NPG Ax160968
Lady Ottoline Morrell; Maria Huxley (née Nys); Lytton Strachey; Duncan Grant; Vanessa Bell
by Unknown photographer
vintage snapshot print, July 1915
NPG x140432
Lady Ottoline Morrell; Maria Huxley (née Nys); Lytton Strachey; Duncan Grant; Vanessa Bell
by Unknown photographer
vintage snapshot print, July 1915
NPG Ax140432
Roger Fry; Clive Bell; Duncan Grant; Lytton Strachey; Saxon Arnold Sydney-Turner; Vanessa Bell
by Unknown photographer
bromide copy print, circa 1916
NPG Ax160974
Simon Bussy; Vanessa Bell; Duncan Grant
by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG x141318
Jean de Menasce; Vanessa Bell; Duncan Grant; Eric Siepmann
by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141298
Lady Ottoline Morrell with friends
possibly by Philip Edward Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141303
Lady Ottoline Morrell with friends
possibly by Philip Edward Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141306
Jean Marchand; 'Henri'; Vanessa Bell
by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141307
Jean Marchand; 'Henri'; Vanessa Bell
by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141308
Simon Bussy; Vanessa Bell; Duncan Grant with Lady Ottoline Morrell's pug Soie
by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141317
Simon Bussy; Vanessa Bell; Duncan Grant
by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141318
by Helen Morris (née Souter)
postcard print, June 1931
NPG x136466
Related People
- (Arthur) Clive Heward Bell (husband)
- Julian Bell (son)
- Quentin Claudian Stephen Bell (son)
- Angelica Vanessa Garnett (née Bell) (daughter)
- (Karin) Judith Henderson (née Stephen) (niece)
- Adrian Stephen (brother)
- Sir James Stephen (grandfather)
- Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 1st Bt (uncle)
- Julia Prinsep Stephen (née Jackson, formerly Mrs Duckworth) (mother)
- Sir Leslie Stephen (father)
- Thoby Stephen (brother)
- Ann Davies Synge (née Stephen) (niece)
- Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (sister)
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