Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism: A Biography

by Mark Hussey

This landmark biography brings art critic Clive Bell, member of the Bloomsbury Group, back into prominence.

Clive Bell is perhaps more well-known today for being a Bloomsbury socialite and the husband of Vanessa Bell, sister to Virginia Woolf. Yet Bell was a highly important figure in his own right: an internationally renowned art critic who championed young artists, he defended daring new forms of expression at a time when Britain was closed off to all things foreign. His groundbreaking book Art brazenly subverted the narratives of art history and cemented his status as the great interpreter of modern art. Bell was also an ardent pacifist and a touchstone for the Wildean values of individual freedoms, and his is a story that leads us into an extraordinary world of intertwined lives, loves and sexualities.

For decades Bell has been a shadowy figure, refracted through the wealth of writing on Bloomsbury, but here Mark Hussey brings Bell to the forefront through reference to personal letters, archives and Bell's own extensive writing. Complete with a cast of famous characters, including Lytton Strachey, T. S. Eliot, Katherine Mansfield, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism is a fascinating portrait of a man who was born into the life of a country squire but went on to become one of the pioneering voices in art of his era.

Reclaiming Bell's stature among the makers of modernism, Hussey has given us a biography to muse and marvel over – a snapshot of a time and of a man who was at the heart of the shock of the new.

Genres: Biography, Art, Cultural

592 pages, Hardcover

Published July 6, 2021

About the author

Mark Hussey taught at Pace University in New York City for nearly 40 years. He has written or edited many books by or about Virginia Woolf, including Virginia Woolf A to Z. His biography 'Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism' came out in paperback in February 2022 from Bloomsbury, and he has just published a selection of Bell’s letters with Edinburgh UP.

Reviews

[Rachel Handley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly superb. An engaging and richly detailed account of Clive Bell's fascinating life.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Hussey's biography of Virginia Woolf's brother-in-law is as meticulous and judicious as one would expect a definitive (and first) biography from this dean of Woolf scholars to be. Especially impressive is Hussey's careful research into the complex web of relationships Bell maintained, not just with Bloomsbury figures but also with a whole world of artists and art dealers. The book's subtitle, "the Making of Modernism," is well chosen, for the arc of Bell's life indeed encompasses the entire span of the development of what we call Modern Art. Especially fascinating (and unexpected) to me were the last chapters of the book, taking Clive into the 50's and 60's and the debates over Abstract Expressionism. Most importantly, the book fills in the usual over-simplified sketch of Clive's character with enough detail to create a much fuller portrait.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clive Bell (together with Roger Fry) introduced impressionism and "new" art to Britain in the early twentieth century. He went on to become a distinguished art critic striving to make art accessible to the common person. While influential in his own right, he is known as one of the linchpins of Bloomsbury. Married to Vanessa Bell (painter), he was the brother in law of Virginia Woolf.

This book is an interesting look at the development and spread of modern art, however it spends a lot of time discussing the various love affairs and gossip among the Bloomsbury group. Certainly, Clive Bell had his share of mistresses and they are delineated in the book. Too much gossip!

It should be a BBC production.

[Ian Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Hussey's book makes it brilliantly clear just how much of a contribution Clive Bell made to British art in the first half of the 20th century. An incredibly detailed account of a very complex character living through a tumultuous time. There is a lot to get through; decades of personal relationships, world wars, constant travelling, his writing, and of course art, both British and French and all of the characters that are intricately woven into Clive Bell's life.

[Alexandra French]

Took me two whole months to get through this book. Confirms why I've never had much time for Clive Bell. But this was a very good biography. Its the man I'm not fussed about. Mark Eve recommended this!