Vanessa Bell

Following a summer trip to Charleston, this exhibition in Lewes provided further insight into Vanessa Bell’s painting.

A significant figure in 20th-century British art, Bell’s creativity covered multiple disciplines.

I knew very little about her beyond what I had learned during my visit to Firle. That she was Virginia Woolf’s sister, married to Duncan Grant, and an accomplished artist and designer in her own right.

Bell’s colour palette caught my attention—rich tones of muted green-blue highlighted by blocks of crimson or deep purple and often framed with bold key lines in dark or black shades. Bell experimented with painting shadows using only colour. In my life as a computer animator, ray tracing and the correct display of shadow colour, being the complement of the object's colour, came to mind.

The term modernist is associated with her work.

I was surprised to see the portrait of her father; (not shown) painted in a very different style from her later works. Surprised because it was an accomplished portrait which I felt belonged to a very different era.

While studying at the Royal Academy, Bell was tutored by Singer Sargent. The painting above demonstrates this influence.

I cannot imagine how it must have been to study at the RA as a woman and be mentored by such esteemed artists.

The other significant aspect of the narrative was the independence Bell sought after her parents' deaths. It seems her life was lived across a variety of different houses, surrounded by friends—artists, poets, and influencers.

Throughout it all, Bell carved out space for her own studio, often curtained off from the rest of life to retreat into her practice, separate from the hustle and bustle.