The Bloomsbu ry Group
Dec 30, 2015
The Bloomsbury Group
In the Beginning…The Bloomsbury Group initially began around
1904 when friends at Cambridge came together to discuss a wide range of societal ideas in a very informal fashion. The group
of writers, artists, and intellects, were sometimes considered rather snobbish for
their wit . Their Thursday night conversations at the home of the Stephen
family in Bloomsbury, London, helped to lay the foundation for their name. The group stayed rather tight knit, connected by a
variety of things, including blood, friendships, and sex. The World Wars greatly affected the group, and by the beginning of World War II, the group’s importance had disintegrated.
WRITERSVirginia Woolf
Lytton StracheyDavid Garnett
Vita Sackville West E.M. Forster
Leonard Woolf
Source: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vwoolf.htm
Virginia Woolf Born: January 25, 1882 Died: March 28,
1941Virginia Woolf was born to Julia
Jackson Duckworth and Sir Leslie Stephen; both parents were active
members in the literary community, giving Virginia access to their world. Her childhood was
peppered with many tragic occurrences: first, she was
sexually assaulted by her half brother, Gerald Duckworth.
Secondly, her mother died in her early teens, shortly followed by
the death of her half sister, Stella Duckworth. This was then
followed by the long slow death of her father to cancer in 1904. Her brother Thoby died in 1906, which
left Virginia in the midst of a mental breakdown.
In 1904, shortly after her father’s death, Virginia and her sister, Vanessa, moved to a house in
Bloomsbury, which was central to the activities of the group. In
1905, Virginia started writing for the Times Literary Supplement. She married Leonard Woolf in
1912; together, they opened the publishing company, Hogarth
Press, which went on to publish Virginia’s books. In 1923, Virginia met Vita Sackville-West and began
having a passionate affair with her. After a final attack of mental illness, Virginia loaded her pockets with rocks, walked into the River
Ouse, and drowned herself. In her suicide note, she wrote to her
husband:
"I have a feeling I shall go mad. I cannot go on longer in these terrible times. I hear
voices and cannot concentrate on my work. I have fought against it but cannot fight any
longer. I owe all my happiness to you but cannot go on and spoil your life."
During her lifetime, Virginia wrote over 500 essays and many books, including:
•The Voyage Out (1915)•Night and Day (1919)•Jacob’s Room (1922)•Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
•To the Lighthouse (1927)•Orlando (1928)
•A Room of One’s Own (1929)•The Waves (1931)
•Three Guineas (1938)
Lytton Strachey Born: March 1, 1880 Died: January 21,
1932Born the eleventh of thirteen children, Strachey became a
famous British writer, specifically with his form of biographies. The
most famous example of his biography style is probably Eminent
Victorians, which was four biographies of Victorian heroes that
detailed their faults, flaws, and failures. He studied at Trinity
College, Cambridge, where he met his Bloomsbury friends, including Leonard Woolf. Within the group,
Lytton was the first to use first names and was also the first to
approach the issue of sex. It is said that he once pointed to a stain on Vanessa Bell’s dress and asked,
“Semen?”
Though homosexual, he was committed to several women in his
life. He actually proposed to Virginia Woolf, but it was with Dora
Carrington to whom he was most devoted. They met in 1915, where
Dora fell in love Lytton. Shortly thereafter, he moved into Dora’s home with her husband, Ralph Partridge. The three were all
sexually involved.
In 1931, Lytton’s health started declining rapidly from unknown
causes. In January 1932, he died from stomach cancer. Three weeks
later, Dora killed herself because she was incapable of living without him.
His books included: Landmarks in French Literature
(1912)Eminent Victorians: Cardinal
Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold, General Gordon (1918)
Queen Victoria (1921)Books and Characters, French and
English (1922)Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic
History (1928)Portraits in Miniature and Other
Essays (1931)
Sources: http://therem.net/bloom-lytton.htm and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/strachey.htm
David “Bunny” GarnettBorn: 1892 Died: 1981
Though raised in the ranks of the Bloomsbury group, he was not
officially considered a member of the group until he became the lover of Duncan Grant. David was actually married to the painter Rachel Alice Marshall until she died in 1940. He
then married Angelica Grant in 1942, who was the daughter of his former lover, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Stephen Bell. It is said that when Angelica was just one day old, he
wrote to Strachey: "I think of marrying it. When she is 20, I shall be 46 - will it be scandalous?" It
turned out it was scandalous. Even the liberal Grant family was
extremely disturbed that their daughter would marry her father’s
former lover. He and Angelica ended up having four daughters
together.
Garnett is responsible for writing several books, including:
•Lady into Fox (1922)
•The Sailor's Return (1925)
•Aspects of Love (1955)
Sources: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/garnett.htm and http://www.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/bloomsburyhtml/group.htm
Vita Sackville WestBorn: 1892 Died: June 2, 1962
Vita began writing poetry and plays when she was just eleven years old. From the time she was fourteen to
eighteen, she wrote eight novels and five plays. In 1913, at the age of twenty one, she married Harold
Nicholson, with whom she had two sons. She tried to be a “dutiful wife,” but when Harold informed her of his
gay lover, they lived happily in a purely platonic relationship from that point
forward. She had several lesbian relationships, but her most famous was
with Virginia Woolf.
She also had a very public relationship with Violet Keppel. Violet was the
daughter of Alice Keppel, Edward VII's mistress. Vita and Violet’s affair
continued even after Violet married. They eventually tried to elope to Paris, but their husbands convinced them to
come home.
She is responsible for having written several books, including:
•Challenge
•The Edwardians
•All Passion Spent
•Family History
•The Land
•The Garden
•English Country Houses
After her death, her son Nigel Nicholson, published a book about her marriage,
called A Portrait of a Marriage. Source: http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/vs-west.htm and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/v_sackville_w.htm
E.M. ForsterBorn: January 1, 1879 Died: June 7,
1970Accidentally christened Edward Morgan,
instead of Henry Morgan, E.M. Forster had a difficult time at Tonbridge School,
because his classmates were particularly harsh to Forster over his sexual orientation.
Eventually, Forster also ended up attending college in Cambridge, where he was associated with the Apostles, which
had many future Bloomsbury group members. He was also a good friend of Virginia Woolf. His father died before he was two years old, and the rest of life is
known for being dominated by his mother and his aunts. Fortunately, one of his aunt’s legacies provided him with the
opportunity to travel extensively and to write.
In the winter of 1916, he met a seventeen year old tram conductor, Mohammad el-
Adl, with whom he fell in love with. Mohammad died from tuberculosis in 1922, but continued to act as the inspiration for
Forster’s works.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/forster.htm
He wrote over forty six short stories and many novels, including:
•Where Angels Fear to Tread
•The Longest Journey
•A Room With a View
•Howard’s End
•A Passage to India
•Maurice
•Artic Summer
Leonard WoolfBorn: November 25, 1880
Died: August 14, 1969
Leonard was the third of ten children of Soloman Rees Sydney and Marie Woolf. He attended Trinity College at Cambridge, where he
met Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, Thoby Stephen (Virginia’s brother), John Maynard Keynes, and E.M. Forster. In 1912, he married Virginia
Stephen, and together they became the center of the Bloomsbury Group. He spent much of his time taking care of his wife, who
suffered from mental illness. Together, though, they formed Hogarth Press, a publishing house. He was the editor of several publications,
including International Review, Contemporary Review, National Athenaeum, and Political Quarterly. He also wrote several books,
including:
•The Village in the Jungle - 1913 •The Wise Virgins - 1914
•International Government - 1916 •Cooperation and the Future of Industry - 1918
•Economic Imperialism - 1920 •Empire and Commerce in Africa - 1920
•Socialism and Co-operation - 1921 •Fear and Politics - 1925
•Essays on Literature, History, Politics - 1927 •Hunting the Highbrow - 1927
•Imperialism and Civilization - 1928 •After the Deluge (Principia Politica), 3 vols. - 1931, 1939,
1953 •Barbarians At The Gate - 1939
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Woolf
ARTISTSVanessa Bell Duncan Grant
Roger Fry Dora Carrington
Vanessa BellBorn: May 1879 Died: 1961
Vanessa, the older sister of Virginia Woolf, started her artwork when she was seventeen years old. Unlike Virginia, she felt repressed by their father’s patriarchal parenting, and
when he died, was happy to move with Virginia and their brothers to Bloomsbury. In 1907, she married the art critic Clive Bell, but
after having given birth to their children, Julian and Quentin, the couple slowly
separated. Though still married to Clive, she was an active couple with Roger Fry, but later
fell in love with the painter Duncan Grant. Together with Grant’s lover, David Garnett, the three moved into their farmhouse which
they named Charleston. With Grant, she gave birth to Angelica, but always claimed
that Angelica was the daughter of Clive Bell for the sake of society.
Some of her works include:
Source: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/bell.html
Duncan Grant Born: 1885 Died: 1978
As a talented painter, Duncan Grant was a central figure in the
Bloomsbury group, courting many of the members. His lovers
included: Adrian Stephen (his future “wife” 's brother), David Garnett (his future daughter’s husband), Lytton Strachey (his cousin), Maynard Keynes, and Vanessa Bell. He was, by all
accounts, “handsome, kind, and charming.”
His artwork was also popular. He was the co-director of the Omega
Workshops, and some of his artwork includes:
Source: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/grant.htm
Roger FryBorn: 1866 Died: September 9, 1934
Though Roger studied at Cambridge in scientific studies, he followed his college career by going to Paris and Italy to study art. Relatively soon, he became a famous artist and art critic. In 1896, he married his wife
Helen Coombe; however, she suffered from mental illness and was forced to be admitted into a
mental institution until her death in 1937. Fry was forced then to raise his children, Pamela and Julian, by himself. He met Clive and Vanessa Bell in 1910, but started an affair
with Vanessa in 1911when he traveled with them to Turkey, that ended soon thereafter in 1913.
Fry coined the phrase “Post-Impressionist” for the art world,
and also founded the Omega Workshops. He emphasized
“form over content,” or how a piece looked over what it meant.
In 1924, after short relationships with Nina Hamnett and Josette
Coatmellec, he met Helen Anrep, who was twenty years younger than him. She left her husband, and they lived happily together
until his death in 1934. His ashes were placed in a vault in a coffin designed by Vanessa Bell. Some
of his works include:
Source: http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/rog-fry.htm
Dora Carrington Born: March 29, 1893 Died: March 11,
1932 After learning to paint at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and also meeting John Nash and Mark Gertler, Dora Carrington became a popular artist. She preferred to be called, “Carrington,” and rejected Mark
Gertler for the gay Lytton Strachey. In 1921, the cross dressing Carrington married Ralph Partridge, with whom
she had a ménage a trois with Lytton. After Lytton died in January 1932 from
stomach cancer, Carrington shot herself the following March after
realizing she could not live without him.
Her artwork was similar to Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell’s, but it was more natural and more naïve. Some
of her work includes:
Source: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/carrington.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Carrington
Others in the Group
J. Maynard KeynesClive Bell
J. Maynard KeynesBorn: June 5, 1883 Died: April 21,
1946 Keynes was born to John Neville Keynes, an
economics professor at Cambridge University, and Florence Ada Brown, the first woman mayor of Cambridge. At 6’6”, Keynes
was a a close friend to Virginia Woolf and other Bloomsburyists and a lover to Duncan
Grant. Even after Keynes married the Russian ballerina, Lydia Lopokova, in 1918, Keynes continued to give Grant money for
the rest of his life.
Keynes was a brilliant economist and is still considered one of the most important
economists ever. His theories are thought responsible for the economic boom of Western countries from 1945 to 1975,
making it the Age of Keynes.
Not only was he an amazing economist, but an impressive investor, too. In the Stock Market Crash of 1929, his investments increased 13.2%, while the rest of the
world’s investments decreased by 0.5%.
Keynes died from a cardiac infarction in 1946.
His works included:
•The Economic Consequences of the Peace
•Treatise of Probability
•Treatise on Money
•A Tract on Monetary Reform
•General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (his greatest
work)Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/keynes.htm
Clive Bell Born: September 16, 1881 Died:
September 18, 1964
Like the other Bloomsbury group members, the art critic Clive Bell was
educated at Trinity College in Cambridge. In 1907, he met and
married Vanessa Stephen, Virginia Woolf’s older sister. After Vanessa
gave birth to their two sons, Julian and Quentin, the couple slowly fell apart.
Clive and Vanessa remained close friends, spending “family” vacations
together, and he continued to support her financially. Together with Roger
Fry, he helped create several important artistic ideas, including
Significant Form, Post Impressionism, and exhorting form over content. His
publication of “Art” in 1914 helped him earn a permanent place in the art
world.
Sources: http://www.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/bloomsburyhtml/group.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Bell