Vanessa Bell

Vanessa Bell was a central figure within the Bloomsbury Group
and lent to it a stability and coherence it might otherwise have
lacked. A talented artist, she held sway with her acuity, integrity
and a sense of humour. Yet she remained inscrutable, glimpses
of her life only appearing through her sister, Virginia Woolf. In this authorised biography, Frances Spalding draws upon a
mass of unpublished documents to reveal Vanessa Bell’s considerable
achievements, in both her art and her increasingly unorthodox
life. A sympathetic account is given of her marriage to
Clive Bell, her affair with Roger Fry and the complex nature of
her lasting relationship with Duncan Grant. It is a fitting tribute
to a woman of great paradox, wit and honesty.