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Sketches in Pen and Ink
Collection of largely unpublished memoirs, illustrated with a selection of Bell's woodcuts and drawings. Prologue by Angelica Garnett and edited by Lia Giachero.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 16, 1997
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About the author
Vanessa Bell
42 books18 followersVanessa Bell was born in Hyde Park Gate, London, the eldest child of the eminent literary scholar and critic Leslie Stephen and his second wife Julia Duckworth. At the time of Vanessa's birth Stephen was engaged as editor of the multi-volume Dictionary of National Biography and his was a home wherein intellectual pursuit, particularly of a literary kind, was encouraged. Besides Vanessa there were three other children, Thoby, Adrian and Virginia, and Virginia (later to become Woolf) would most evidence this literary influence. But there was broadness of cultural pursuit, and Vanessa's interest in drawing was approved whilst she was young, and lead to her attending the Royal Academy Schools for a more formal training in art.
Despite such broadness of cultural interests the household was socially, in many ways a conventional one; and to a degree - or so Vanessa would come to feel – hide-bound in its social customs and expectations. After her father's death in 1904, Vanessa instigated a move to 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. Here she and her siblings would live a life of less constrained conventionality. They held 'at homes' to which they invited their friends, and soon it was understood by those attending that not only were there few topics of conversation out of bounds, but a certain tenor of conversation – irreverent, ironic and above all psychologically honest – was expected. From these informal gatherings there emerged a core set of people - the Stephen children, Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, Leonard Woolf, Duncan Grant and David Garnett amongst them - to which the name 'Bloomsbury' would become attached.
Vanessa married the art-critic Clive Bell. They had two sons, Julian and Quentin, but their marital relationship did not last and for much of their lives they lived apart. They nevertheless maintained close, and for the most part affectionate relations - even during a brief affair which Vanessa had with Roger Fry, a friend, fellow art-critic and sometime professional colleague of Clive's. This affair was short lived, and Vanessa's affections were soon directed towards the artist Duncan Grant with whom she was to have her third child Angelica, born in 1919.
Both Roger Fry and Duncan Grant each had an influence on Vanessa's art. Duncan in more personal ways: she felt spurred to create by him, his influence the result of an eroticised attachment. But theirs was also a collegial relationship: they undertook commissions together for The Omega Workshops, a Bloomsbury venture which sought to supply items of well-designed household artefacts for sale to the public, and they often worked on the same project such as decorating the rooms at their Sussex home Charleston Farmhouse. Theirs was a working relationship not without ambivalence: whilst Vanessa welcomed his creative energies and vision she feared being exposed too much to his influence, and occasionally felt that her own endeavours might be eclipsed by his.
Fry's influence was less directly personal. Fry had a deep interest in modern French art - indeed it was he who was first to introduce Manet and Post-Impressionism to a scandalised British art establishment when he curated the two exhibitions of their works in 1910 and 1912 respectively. And Vanessa found these exhibitions of profound influence: she began to experiment with strong colours and a bold reductionism in her paintings, and much of her most radical work can be traced to the influence of the Post-Impressionists exhibiting just before the war. She would later return to more traditional methods of representation, but a strength of colour would always characterise her work, and it is as a colourist for which she is now perhaps most admired.
Vanessa Bell was a central member of Bloomsbury – in many ways she was the social linchpin which sustained and maintained the group. Writing to her in 1912, Roger Fry says: 'I imagine all your gestures….and how all around you people will dare to be themselves and talk o
Despite such broadness of cultural interests the household was socially, in many ways a conventional one; and to a degree - or so Vanessa would come to feel – hide-bound in its social customs and expectations. After her father's death in 1904, Vanessa instigated a move to 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury. Here she and her siblings would live a life of less constrained conventionality. They held 'at homes' to which they invited their friends, and soon it was understood by those attending that not only were there few topics of conversation out of bounds, but a certain tenor of conversation – irreverent, ironic and above all psychologically honest – was expected. From these informal gatherings there emerged a core set of people - the Stephen children, Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, Leonard Woolf, Duncan Grant and David Garnett amongst them - to which the name 'Bloomsbury' would become attached.
Vanessa married the art-critic Clive Bell. They had two sons, Julian and Quentin, but their marital relationship did not last and for much of their lives they lived apart. They nevertheless maintained close, and for the most part affectionate relations - even during a brief affair which Vanessa had with Roger Fry, a friend, fellow art-critic and sometime professional colleague of Clive's. This affair was short lived, and Vanessa's affections were soon directed towards the artist Duncan Grant with whom she was to have her third child Angelica, born in 1919.
Both Roger Fry and Duncan Grant each had an influence on Vanessa's art. Duncan in more personal ways: she felt spurred to create by him, his influence the result of an eroticised attachment. But theirs was also a collegial relationship: they undertook commissions together for The Omega Workshops, a Bloomsbury venture which sought to supply items of well-designed household artefacts for sale to the public, and they often worked on the same project such as decorating the rooms at their Sussex home Charleston Farmhouse. Theirs was a working relationship not without ambivalence: whilst Vanessa welcomed his creative energies and vision she feared being exposed too much to his influence, and occasionally felt that her own endeavours might be eclipsed by his.
Fry's influence was less directly personal. Fry had a deep interest in modern French art - indeed it was he who was first to introduce Manet and Post-Impressionism to a scandalised British art establishment when he curated the two exhibitions of their works in 1910 and 1912 respectively. And Vanessa found these exhibitions of profound influence: she began to experiment with strong colours and a bold reductionism in her paintings, and much of her most radical work can be traced to the influence of the Post-Impressionists exhibiting just before the war. She would later return to more traditional methods of representation, but a strength of colour would always characterise her work, and it is as a colourist for which she is now perhaps most admired.
Vanessa Bell was a central member of Bloomsbury – in many ways she was the social linchpin which sustained and maintained the group. Writing to her in 1912, Roger Fry says: 'I imagine all your gestures….and how all around you people will dare to be themselves and talk o
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October 28, 2017
"The Memoir Club" Vanessa Bell, 1943
On March 6th, 1922, some of the great British thinkers, artists and writers of that time came together for the first time in a meeting what would be called “Memoir Club” which would take place on a more or less regular basis for more than forty years, defying war and the death of some of the most prominent members. The modernist writer Virginia Woolf described the first meeting in her diaries as a ‘highly interesting occasion’. I’m sure it was, as the whole bunch of what we know today as the “Bloomsbury Group” were present: Beside Virginia Woolf, one would see her husband Leonard Woolf, the economist Maynard Keynes, Saxon Sidney-Turner, the biographer Lytton Strachey, the great Morgan Forster, the artist Duncan Grant, the critic Roger Fry and of course the artist and author of this little book, Vanessa Bell, together with her husband Clive Bell.
Vanessa Bell’s daughter, Angelica Garnett, who wrote an insightful prologue for this book described the meetings as being “usually enjoyable occasions when members met for the evening meal, often in a local restaurant, afterwards moving on to the house, studio or flat belonging to one of them. There one or two members would read papers, which might, or might not, be discussed afterwards, according to the interest or the time available.” (p.5)
The papers were often autobiographical and honesty was mandatory. Five of the six sketches published in this book (*) are papers written by Vanessa Bell for the Memoir Club. They are what we could call memoirs, describing her family, the ups and downs of everyday life, and her friendship with Roger Fry which was determining for her as an artist.
Vanessa’s writing style is unpretentious, warm-hearted, and she writes with a twinkle in her eye.
The book ends with an illuminating essay by the editor Lia Giachero about the artist Vanessa Bell. Included are illustrations of Vanessa Bell’s woodcuts and drawings.
All in all, a real treat for everybody fascinated by the Bloomsbury Group.
(*) the last chapter contains notes for a lecture given by Vanessa Bell at Leighton School in 1925
February 14, 2012
This was such a lovely collection of Vanessa Bell's memoirs and I enjoyed every minute I spent with it. Her memoirs make for very pleasant reading and she hits a few universal truths right on the head, and while I think many people would enjoy this collection, I think it will be particularly fascinating to those who are already familiar with Vanessa and her circle of friends.
This collection contains an introduction to Vanessa the woman by her daughter Angelica and a prologue by Lia Giachero who talks about Vanessa as an artist, besides a list of the members of the Memoir Club, a lecture Vanessa gave at Leighton Park School in 1925 and of course the memoirs themselves (Memoirs Relating to Mrs Jackson, Notes on Virginia's Childhood, Life at Hyde Park Gate after 1897, My Sister-in-Law, Notes on Bloomsbury, and Memories of Roger Fry). The last memoir, Memories of Roger Fry, opens like this:
"There is always a certain fascination in recalling the first time one saw anyone who later became one's friend and it is strange how frequently it is possible to do so, though probably at the time one was unaware of anything but the casual meeting with a stranger"
and isn't she just right about that. Simply stated and simply true.
All of her memoirs are very short and the entire collection could be read in a single day. There is a nice simplicity and honesty about her writing, and it is easy to picture to yourself the warm, caring, unpretending, sensible woman who wrote these memoirs. But I have to highlight her lecture at Leighton Park School because it is not only funny, it is fascinating and very, very interesting. The subject is artists, and how painters and writers perceive the world differently. She talks about Virginia's Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown in which an old woman sits in a train carriage. The writer in front of her - Virginia or possibly HG Wells - notices the way the woman's dress is buttoned, her shawls and bonnets, her grey hair and starts picturing to herself where the woman is from, whether her husband left her or she is widowed, where her son is, etc. The writer notices things to try and pin down the woman and find out where she lives, what is her story, her social class, etc. The painter doesn't care whether the old woman wears a hat or a bonnet because she doesn't care about the social implications of either. But she notices whether the rose on the bonnet or hat is pink or red. "The grey hair, which has spoken of old age at once to writers and doctors, means to a painter not just grey hair, but a certain grey - perhaps a grey with silver lights and warm shadows, perhaps an opaque cold grey, but a grey as different from other greys as one chord in music is different from others"
Vanessa, and the painter, sees the world in shapes and colours. To her, WWI was summed up in the word: Khaki. To writers, she says, red in strawberries means ripeness and a blue sky means a fine day, but to Vanessa red is not just red and the sky isn't just blue. To her the world is made of colours, nuances, shapes, light and shadow. Children are fascinated by colours, too, she says, but most people lose their sense of colour and shape as they grow older. ("it was merely tiresome to have to learn that all is not gold that glitters and that that beautiful green paint you got all over your pinafore which made such a wonderful pattern was really dirt and probably poisonous.") The painter, or the madman as she calls herself, keeps the childish fascination with colours and shapes. I loved this lecture and could read it again and again because she opened up a new way of looking at the world to me, and she might do the same to you, too.
This collection contains an introduction to Vanessa the woman by her daughter Angelica and a prologue by Lia Giachero who talks about Vanessa as an artist, besides a list of the members of the Memoir Club, a lecture Vanessa gave at Leighton Park School in 1925 and of course the memoirs themselves (Memoirs Relating to Mrs Jackson, Notes on Virginia's Childhood, Life at Hyde Park Gate after 1897, My Sister-in-Law, Notes on Bloomsbury, and Memories of Roger Fry). The last memoir, Memories of Roger Fry, opens like this:
"There is always a certain fascination in recalling the first time one saw anyone who later became one's friend and it is strange how frequently it is possible to do so, though probably at the time one was unaware of anything but the casual meeting with a stranger"
and isn't she just right about that. Simply stated and simply true.
All of her memoirs are very short and the entire collection could be read in a single day. There is a nice simplicity and honesty about her writing, and it is easy to picture to yourself the warm, caring, unpretending, sensible woman who wrote these memoirs. But I have to highlight her lecture at Leighton Park School because it is not only funny, it is fascinating and very, very interesting. The subject is artists, and how painters and writers perceive the world differently. She talks about Virginia's Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown in which an old woman sits in a train carriage. The writer in front of her - Virginia or possibly HG Wells - notices the way the woman's dress is buttoned, her shawls and bonnets, her grey hair and starts picturing to herself where the woman is from, whether her husband left her or she is widowed, where her son is, etc. The writer notices things to try and pin down the woman and find out where she lives, what is her story, her social class, etc. The painter doesn't care whether the old woman wears a hat or a bonnet because she doesn't care about the social implications of either. But she notices whether the rose on the bonnet or hat is pink or red. "The grey hair, which has spoken of old age at once to writers and doctors, means to a painter not just grey hair, but a certain grey - perhaps a grey with silver lights and warm shadows, perhaps an opaque cold grey, but a grey as different from other greys as one chord in music is different from others"
Vanessa, and the painter, sees the world in shapes and colours. To her, WWI was summed up in the word: Khaki. To writers, she says, red in strawberries means ripeness and a blue sky means a fine day, but to Vanessa red is not just red and the sky isn't just blue. To her the world is made of colours, nuances, shapes, light and shadow. Children are fascinated by colours, too, she says, but most people lose their sense of colour and shape as they grow older. ("it was merely tiresome to have to learn that all is not gold that glitters and that that beautiful green paint you got all over your pinafore which made such a wonderful pattern was really dirt and probably poisonous.") The painter, or the madman as she calls herself, keeps the childish fascination with colours and shapes. I loved this lecture and could read it again and again because she opened up a new way of looking at the world to me, and she might do the same to you, too.
February 13, 2011
Whilst Mum is recovering from a back op, I have been reading to her from a lovely little book that I picked up quite by chance a couple of months ago. Having read a lot of Virginia Woolf's books i thought it would be interesting to read what her sister had to say.
The book is called 'Sketches in Pen and Ink' it comprises of notes made by Vanessa, not for general publication, but merely to share with her friends within the 'Bloomsbury group' at their reading sessions. Each story is rather short, they consist of remembrances of her childhood with Virginia and their brothers, the death of her Mother, a vague meeting with one of her step brothers wives a great account of the critic Roger Fry, which is where the below statement is from, as she knew of him vaguely and then they became very close, it is a wonderful account of how that relationship developed. What I love about the book, is the casualness of the writing, it is quite different to that of her sister, who as we know tended to really focus on the minutia of life; a case in point being 'Mrs Dalloway' a whole book which devoted to the events of just one day.
Vanessa saw life through the eyes of an artist, most of those around her were writers, so it wasn't until later in life when she was involved with the 'Bloomsbury Group' that she was able to share this love and indeed have conversations and understanding from others. I love her observations; she casually throws them in, such as the one below, which is of course such an easy remark, but as I read made me think of the first time meetings with my friends, and how at that time you see them from afar, as of people on a bus just passing by; never imagining that in some future time you would become friends and know each other better than even some within your family.
'There is always a certain fascination in recalling the first time one saw anyone who later became one's friend and it is strange how frequently it is possible to do so, though probably at the time one was unaware of anything but the casual meeting with a stranger.'
It's a lovely book, both in style as it contains some lovely paintings and drawing by Ms Bell, but also the care that has gone into it by Vanessa's daughter and the editor Lia Giachero.
The above quote also made me think of the wonderful line in 'Tales of the city' in which Mrs Madrigal tells Edgar ' ah but we are in a different light now'
The book is called 'Sketches in Pen and Ink' it comprises of notes made by Vanessa, not for general publication, but merely to share with her friends within the 'Bloomsbury group' at their reading sessions. Each story is rather short, they consist of remembrances of her childhood with Virginia and their brothers, the death of her Mother, a vague meeting with one of her step brothers wives a great account of the critic Roger Fry, which is where the below statement is from, as she knew of him vaguely and then they became very close, it is a wonderful account of how that relationship developed. What I love about the book, is the casualness of the writing, it is quite different to that of her sister, who as we know tended to really focus on the minutia of life; a case in point being 'Mrs Dalloway' a whole book which devoted to the events of just one day.
Vanessa saw life through the eyes of an artist, most of those around her were writers, so it wasn't until later in life when she was involved with the 'Bloomsbury Group' that she was able to share this love and indeed have conversations and understanding from others. I love her observations; she casually throws them in, such as the one below, which is of course such an easy remark, but as I read made me think of the first time meetings with my friends, and how at that time you see them from afar, as of people on a bus just passing by; never imagining that in some future time you would become friends and know each other better than even some within your family.
'There is always a certain fascination in recalling the first time one saw anyone who later became one's friend and it is strange how frequently it is possible to do so, though probably at the time one was unaware of anything but the casual meeting with a stranger.'
It's a lovely book, both in style as it contains some lovely paintings and drawing by Ms Bell, but also the care that has gone into it by Vanessa's daughter and the editor Lia Giachero.
The above quote also made me think of the wonderful line in 'Tales of the city' in which Mrs Madrigal tells Edgar ' ah but we are in a different light now'
September 25, 2024
Although I admit this book was clearly not meant for me, it's hard to pinpoint who it's meant for.
April 12, 2015
An interesting portrayal of the Group by an insider.....they must have been quite insufferable...
February 14, 2021
Sketches In Pen And Ink: A Bloomsbury Notebook by Vanessa Bell (edited by Lia Giachero)
This is such a lovely little book full of thought and feeling directly from Bell's mouth, or rather her hand. With a candid introduction by Bell's daughter, Angelica Garnett, a small curation of Bell's ink sketches and written contributions for Memoir Club, and an afterword by Giachero in which she notes Bell's fluctuating interest in biographies of Bloomsbury (she burnt some of her letters so that they wouldn't be misinterpreted, scoffed at gross inaccuracies of fact "Why bother?", but had an interest in any attempt to capture members of the group), I found Sketches a truly authentic read, more than any formal biography could ever hope to be.
Giachero's sources are either first-hand by or related to Bell, essentially biographical gold - and yet she distances herself from the text as much as an editor can do. I think this is key to the book's beauty and impact, not once does Giachero act as a source of authority. Her afterword discusses Vanessa's role as default hostess of Bloomsbury and her wavering development as an artist, as well as her protestations that she was neither a writer nor a source of authority on art, in fact she declared herself "ignorant" when it came to anything except the act of painting what one sees. The interplay between Bell as an artist (painting was ingrained in her being, you can see this from her earliest memories even without reference to art) and as maternal doyenne to a Group whose creative output was more public than her own, are so intertwined that it makes analyzing her messy - but to separate these strands of her identity would make only dismantle her entirely.
Bell was unassuming as an individual and artist - she made no self-aggrandizing declaration on the "meaning" of her work or why she changed her style, she simply did, she simply was, and the mystery surrounding Bell that Giachero leaves intact is a greater indicator of her character, a quality noted by her sister Virginia Woolf, who described Vanessa as being "as silent as the grave".
I think this slight volume by an equally unassuming editor says more than any monolithic biography by an enthusiastic researcher ever could.
This is such a lovely little book full of thought and feeling directly from Bell's mouth, or rather her hand. With a candid introduction by Bell's daughter, Angelica Garnett, a small curation of Bell's ink sketches and written contributions for Memoir Club, and an afterword by Giachero in which she notes Bell's fluctuating interest in biographies of Bloomsbury (she burnt some of her letters so that they wouldn't be misinterpreted, scoffed at gross inaccuracies of fact "Why bother?", but had an interest in any attempt to capture members of the group), I found Sketches a truly authentic read, more than any formal biography could ever hope to be.
Giachero's sources are either first-hand by or related to Bell, essentially biographical gold - and yet she distances herself from the text as much as an editor can do. I think this is key to the book's beauty and impact, not once does Giachero act as a source of authority. Her afterword discusses Vanessa's role as default hostess of Bloomsbury and her wavering development as an artist, as well as her protestations that she was neither a writer nor a source of authority on art, in fact she declared herself "ignorant" when it came to anything except the act of painting what one sees. The interplay between Bell as an artist (painting was ingrained in her being, you can see this from her earliest memories even without reference to art) and as maternal doyenne to a Group whose creative output was more public than her own, are so intertwined that it makes analyzing her messy - but to separate these strands of her identity would make only dismantle her entirely.
Bell was unassuming as an individual and artist - she made no self-aggrandizing declaration on the "meaning" of her work or why she changed her style, she simply did, she simply was, and the mystery surrounding Bell that Giachero leaves intact is a greater indicator of her character, a quality noted by her sister Virginia Woolf, who described Vanessa as being "as silent as the grave".
I think this slight volume by an equally unassuming editor says more than any monolithic biography by an enthusiastic researcher ever could.
November 30, 2021
Couldn’t finish; I skimmed the last two chapters. I enjoyed the Notes on Bloomsbury, but I didn’t find the others interesting. It was nice to refresh myself on the Bloomsbury “group” which began after Vanessa’s step-father died and she and her brothers & sister moved to Gordon Square. Her brother began to bring his Cambridge friends home for evenings of talk about the “meaning of good” and anything else, and thus it began. And what a circle of friends: Lytton Strachey, E M Forster, Maynard Keynes, Roger Fry, etc, who were united by their belief in the importance of the arts.
January 7, 2018
Fascinating insight into one of my all time favourite artists! A woman who painted more than she wrote, this is a gorgeous little book that gives us a small look at some of Vanessa’s sparkling written work. These essays are her thoughts and memories of moments in her life, a throughly good read that I devoured!
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March 23, 2020Owned this book before I visited Charleston last year, almost as if it was waiting for the right time for me to read it. It was a much more insightful read as a result and loved the snippets about Roger Fry and Virginia Woolf too.
January 24, 2011
I know very little about Vanessa Bell, outside of having read a book called Among the Bohemians about Bloomsbury years ago. And even then I didn't really think of her. At the library this week I saw this little book and mostly was seduced by her name - VANESSA BELL is really an excellent name - it lulls inside one's mouth beautifully - and then also the little blue flowers on the cover - anyway - I read it all today.
This is a most charming book.
Mrs. Bell writes down snippets of her memories of places and people of her youth mainly and while it could be dreadful boring reading of name dropping, instead it is very fine and interesting and full of real details, so that you can picture the world she is describing.
And the last essay - a speech she gives at her son't school about being an artist - is something I will make my students read, once I have some. Someday.
This is a most charming book.
Mrs. Bell writes down snippets of her memories of places and people of her youth mainly and while it could be dreadful boring reading of name dropping, instead it is very fine and interesting and full of real details, so that you can picture the world she is describing.
And the last essay - a speech she gives at her son't school about being an artist - is something I will make my students read, once I have some. Someday.
January 18, 2016
Virginia Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell is known for her great talent as a visual artist, not much of her writing committed to print. What precious little we have is to be found in this slim volume, a collection of essays about members of the Bloomsbury Group. Most memorable for the light they shed on these famous - and infamous - writers, artists and thinkers, it's obvious immediately Vanessa Bell was not the writer her sister was. However, what she's written presents a rare glimpse into the group from her perspective, shedding light we otherwise wouldn't see. Add to that Bell's own artwork and this is a little treasure.
March 25, 2015
I really liked this, it was a nice counterpart to Virginia's 'Moments of Being.' She is particularly funny in the lecture to the middle-school-aged classmates of her son, on art and the artist.
One thing I particularly liked about this book was the beautiful quality of the paper and binding. It's not often you hold a paperback in your hands and think of what a lovely thing it is. This one made me think that every time I picked it up.
One thing I particularly liked about this book was the beautiful quality of the paper and binding. It's not often you hold a paperback in your hands and think of what a lovely thing it is. This one made me think that every time I picked it up.
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January 18, 2011sent by my mother from the UK when my expat spirits were very low indeed: lovely, lovely, lovely. The kind of musing that does make me want to fly baack in time!
January 18, 2011
Exceptional ...including the Prologue.
July 13, 2012
Not as exciting as I've found other Bloomsbury-type writings. I think the introduction was the most fun telling about the writer.
March 24, 2018
A good remind of how bright and articulate Virginia's sister was. The standard for wit was pretty high among the Bloomsberries.
February 21, 2013
Lovely memoir & first hand account.
August 3, 2013
A charming book. Vanessa relates some of her memories.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews