Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/dame-ethel-walker-2115" aria-label="More by Dame Ethel Walker" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Dame Ethel Walker</a>
Vanessa
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1939
actions: postures and motions
adults
arms folded
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
Bell, Vanessa
book - non-specific
domestic
individuals: female
interior - non-specific
interiors
named individuals
objects
people
portraits
reading, writing, printed matter
sitting
woman
work and occupations
<p>Vanessa Bell, who is shown in this portrait, was the sister of the writer Virginia Woolf and one of the founders of the circle known as Bloomsbury. Here she is placed in a domestic interior, possibly at Charleston in Sussex. Her gaze is directed away from the viewer, suggesting that we are intruding into her private space.</p><p>Bell’s willingness to experiment placed her in the forefront of the avant-garde. By contrast Walker worked in a more traditional style mainly producing portraits, flower pieces and seascapes.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
1 July 2005 – 30 September 2005
2005-09-30
1 July 2005 – 30 September 2005
2005-09-30
2005-07-01
Cecil Higgins Art Gallery (Bedford, UK)
http://www.cecilhigginsartgallery.org
2005-07-01
Angels in the Studio: The Women of the Slade School
Loan-out
10 February 2018 – 11 December 2018
2018-12-11
10 February 2018 – 29 April 2018
2018-04-29
2018-02-10
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
26 May 2018 – 16 September 2018
2018-09-16
2018-05-26
Pallant House Gallery (Chichester, UK)
2 October 2018 – 11 December 2018
2018-12-11
2018-10-02
Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, UK)
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
2018-02-10
Virginia Woolf
Exhibition
26 May 2018 – 9 December 2018
2018-12-09
26 May 2018 – 16 September 2018
2018-09-16
2018-05-26
Pallant House Gallery (Chichester, UK)
2 October 2018 – 9 December 2018
2018-12-09
2018-10-02
Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, UK)
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
2018-05-26
Virginia Woolf
Loan-out
9 October 2023 – 12 May 2024
2024-05-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-10-09
Ethel Walker: Female Utopias
Collection based display
24 June 2024
24 June 2024
2024-06-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2024-06-24
Archive Gallery: Artists International Association
Collection based display
Vanessa
support: 610 × 508 mm
frame: 780 × 675 × 106 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1939
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text0">Vanessa Bell, who is shown in this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a>, was the      sister of the writer </span><span class="text14">Virginia Woolf and one of      the founders  of the circle known as <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/bloomsbury" title="Glossary definition for 'Bloomsbury '"><span>Bloomsbury</span></a>. Here </span><span class="text15">she is placed in a domestic interior, </span><span class="text0">possibly      at Charleston in Sussex. Her  gaze is directed away from the viewer,      suggesting that we are intruding into  her private space. </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text0">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text14">Bell’s willingness to experiment placed  her in      the forefront of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/avant-garde" title="Glossary definition for 'Avant-garde'"><span>avant-garde</span></a>. </span><span class="text0">
By contrast      Walker worked in a more </span><span class="text15">traditional style      mainly producing </span><span class="text14">portraits, flower pieces and      seascapes.</span><span class="text0"> 
<br/> </span>
</div>

Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05038</b> VANESSA 1937
<br/>
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 24×20 (61×50·5).
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1939.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by the C.A.S. from the artist through the Leicester Galleries 1937.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> <i>Summer Exhibition,</i> Leicester Galleries, August 1937 (82); British Council, <i>Contemporary British Art</i>, New York World's Fair, 1939 (147 and repr.), Canadian tour, Boston and Chicago, 1939–40 (147), and Toledo, 1942 (111, repr. p.64); <i>Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John,</i> Tate Gallery, May–June 1952 (12).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Hesketh Hubbard, <i>A Hundred Years of British Painting</i> 1851–1951, 1951, pl.104; Sir John Rothenstein, <i>British Art since 1900</i>, 1962, pl.13.</p>
<p>The sitter is the artist Vanessa Bell (1879–1961), wife of Clive Bell. In a letter to Miss Grace English, dated 24 February 1937, the artist wrote; ‘I have finished without spoiling either by doing so, the two <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portraits</span></a> of Margaret Wade [?] and of Vanessa.’ It was the practice of Ethel Walker to finish a portrait at one, often very long, sitting and she rarely worked upon a picture afterwards. A note in Miss English's MS. reads ‘Vanessa Bell 1935 after dinner’, but the significance or accuracy of this remark is difficult to ascertain. It could possible mean that the portrait was begun in 1935 and then reworked in 1937.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults arms folded artist, painter arts and entertainment Bell, Vanessa book - non-specific domestic individuals: female interior - non-specific interiors named individuals objects people portraits reading, writing, printed matter sitting woman work and occupations