[108850] Sheffield : Millennium Gallery - David Garnett

Millennium Gallery, Arundel Gate, Sheffield.

Exhibition - Beyond Bloomsbury: Life, Love and Legacy.

25 November 2021-13 February 2022.

 

David Garnett.

Vanessa Bell (1895-1961).

Oil & gouache on cardboard, 1915.

National Portrait Gallery, London.

 

David Garnett (1892-1981) was a writer who was known as 'Bunny' to his friends. This portrait was painted at Charleston, around the time when Garnett and Vanessa Bell were both romantically involved with artist Duncan Grant.

 

Bell and Grant painted Garnett simultaneously during this sitting. Their approaches differed dramatically. Grant gave Garnett the 'beauty of a god', whereas Bell showed him as a blotchy, red-nosed young man. This may hint at the tension Garnett caused between the two artists.

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The extraordinary writers, artists and thinkers of the Bloomsbury Group had a profound effect on British art and literature. Prolific, passionate and hugely gifted, their story is just as compelling as the remarkable work they created.

 

This major exhibition, in partnership with York Museums Trust and the National Portrait Gallery, chronicles the lives, loves and work of the group during the first half of the 20th century. As well as celebrating the group’s key figures, including writer and feminist pioneer Virginia Woolf and her sister, painter Vanessa Bell, the displays shine a spotlight on their often overlooked peers and reflect on the group’s place in queer art history.

 

Displays feature paintings, sculpture, drawings and photographs by Bell and her contemporaries, including Dora Carrington, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Paul Nash, Gwen Raverat and Ray Strachey, alongside new work by contemporary artist, Sahara Longe, responding to the Bloomsbury artists.

Done