Skip navigation

Main menu

  • What's on
  • Art & Artists
    • The Collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Media
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      Learning
      Schools
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Art Making
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • Visit
  • Shop
Become a Member
  • DISCOVER ART
  • ARTISTS A-Z
  • ARTWORK SEARCH
  • ART BY THEME
  • VIDEOS
  • ART TERMS
  • SCHOOLS
  • TATE KIDS
  • RESEARCH
  • Tate Britain
    Tate Britain Free admission
  • Tate Modern
    Tate Modern Free admission
  • Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
    Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Free admission
  • Tate St Ives
    Tate St Ives Ticket or membership card required
  • FAMILIES
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SCHOOLS
  • PRIVATE TOURS
Tate Logo
Become a Member
  • Art and Artists
  • Tate Archive
  • Collections of Digitised Archive Items
  • Personal papers of Duncan Grant
  • Correspondence
  • Letters from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant
  • Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant

Vanessa Bell, recipient: Duncan Grant

Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant

[c.10 February 1930]

Page 1

Created by
Vanessa Bell 1879–1961
Recipient
Duncan Grant 1885–1978
Date
[c.10 February 1930]
Show details

© The estate of Vanessa Bell courtesy of Henrietta Garnett

License this image

In Tate Britain

Library and Archive Reading Rooms

View by appointment
Created by
Vanessa Bell 1879–1961
Recipient
Duncan Grant 1885–1978
Title
Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant
Date
[c.10 February 1930]
Format
Document - correspondence
Collection
Tate Archive
Acquisition
Presented to Tate Archive by Henrietta Garnett, May 2007.
Reference
TGA 20078/1/44/165

Description

Letter from Vanessa Bell, 8 Fitzroy Street, Fitzrovia, London, to Duncan Grant, originally forwarding a letter from Jean (?Campbell or Marchand). She reports on two of their ongoing decorative schemes - one for Dottie Wellesley's house Penns-in-the-rocks, Sussex, and one for Ethel (?Sands) in London, being largely executed by Robert (?Medley). She describes visits to two sculptors : Stephen Tomlin in Wiltshire, who is despondent about his work; and Frank Dobson (with Roger Fry), who shows her a large work (possibly Tate's 'Truth' [1930; N04510]) and a head of his future wife Mary Bussell. Bell has also been painting the black model Brinkworth with Fry. Virginia Woolf, recovering from the flu, has refused to write for Walter Sickert's upcoming Savile Gallery exhibition, and was attacked by Rory O'Mullen for another preface, probably for the catalogue of Vanessa's current London Artists' Assocation show. Also mentions Angelica and Quentin Bell, Nellie Boxall, Dora Carrington (grieving for the recently deceased Charlie Sanger), Dobson's first wife Delia and his daughter Ann with Mary, John Joseph Kallenborn, Julia Strachey, and Sickert's dealer R.E.A. Wilson.

Read more

Cubism London Group Post-Impressionism Camden Town Group Bloomsbury Group

Archive context

  • Personal papers of Duncan Grant TGA 20078 (234)
    • Correspondence TGA 20078/1 (234)
      • Letters from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant TGA 20078/1/44 (234)
        • Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant TGA 20078/1/44/165
Artwork
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact
© The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, 2025
All rights reserved