Virginia Woolf (née Stephen)

Sitterback to top

• Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (1882-1941), Novelist and critic; sister of Vanessa Bell. Sitter in 62 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Vanessa Bell (née Stephen) (1879-1961), Painter; sister of Virginia Woolf. Artist associated with 14 portraits, Sitter in 16 portraits.

This portraitback to top

A central figure of the Bloomsbury group, Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) is one of the major writers of English fiction of the twentieth century and a pioneer, in works such as To the Lighthouse (1927) and The Waves (1931), of the 'stream of consciousness' novel. A Room of One's Own (1929) remains a classic in the canon of feminist writing. This portrait of her crocheting is by her sister, the Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell, and was painted before her marriage to Leonard Woolf. The writer was working on her first novel Melymbrosia which was published in 1915 as The Voyage Out. Acquired with the help form the National Art Collections Fund.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Audio Guide
• Clerk, Honor, The Sitwells, 1994 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 14 October - 22 January 1995), p. 70
• Eger, Elizabeth; Peltz, Lucy, Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings, 2008 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 13 March to 15 June 2008), p. 143
• Gibson, Robin; Clerk, Honor, 20th Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1993, p. 15
• Motion, Andrew (edited), Interrupted Lives: In Literature, 2004, p. 55
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 677
• Spalding, Frances, Insights: The Bloomsbury Group, 2005, p. 14

Subject/Themeback to top

• Chairs