Profiles  |  Origins  |  Members  |  Lifestyle and beliefs  |  Influence and achievements

	Helen Anrep Long-term partner of Roger Fry Became involved with the Bloomsbury circle in 1924-5 when she met Roger Fry at a party at Vanessa Bell's studio. She left her husband, the mosaicist Boris Anrep, to be with Fry, with whom she lived until his death. Although not an artist or intellectual, Anrep was interested in the arts and provided critical support for Fry in his work. After his death she continued her interest and generously supported the artists of the Euston Road School in the late 1930s.
Clive Bell	Clive Bell Married to Vanessa Bell, father of Julian and Quentin Art critic and husband of Vanessa Bell, whom he met through Vanessa's brother Thoby. Although Vanessa and Clive separated soon after their two sons were born they remained friends, and Clive continued to support her financially. Bell helped Roger Fry organise the two Post-Impressionist Exhibitions (1910, 1912), and went on to write Art published in 1914. Like Fry's, Bell's writing on art emphasised the importance of 'form' over 'content'. This theory of 'Significant Form' was extremely influential in British art between the world wars.
Julian Bell	Julian Bell Son of Vanessa and Clive Bell, brother of Quentin Bell and half-brother of Angelica Garnett Older son of Clive and Vanessa Bell, Julian had an unconventional upbringing and spent much of his childhood in the relative isolation of Charleston. A writer and poet he also became interested in left wing politics. He was killed in 1937 while serving as an ambulance driver in the Spanish Civil War.
Vanessa Bell	Vanessa Bell See the Vanessa Bell biography section.
Quentin Bell	Quentin Bell Son of Vanessa and Clive Bell, brother of Julian Bell and half-brother of Angelica Garnett Second son of Clive and Vanessa Bell. Spent much of his childhood at Charleston and went on to become a writer, artist, and art historian.
Frederick and Jesse Etchells	Frederick and Jesse Etchells Friends of Vanessa Bell Frederick and his sister Jesse were artists and members of the Friday Club. Frederick met Braque and Picasso whilst living in France, was friendly with Wyndham Lewis and collaborated with Duncan Grant on the Borough Polytechnic Murals. Paintings by Frederick Etchells were included in the 1912 Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition. He was a founder member of Omega but left after falling out with Fry. He was associated with 'Vorticism', and went on to became a successful architect.
Roger Fry	Roger Fry See the Roger Fry biography section.
Angelica Garnett	Angelica Garnett Daughter of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, married to David Garnett Daughter of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Although her parentage was well known in Bloomsbury circles, she did not learn that Clive Bell was not her father until she was nineteen. She spent her childhood at Charleston and in the South of France and went on to become an actress and artist, collaborating with Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant on the murals for Berwick Church. Much to her parents horror, she married David Garnett, her father's former lover, in 1942.
David 'Bunny' Garnett	David 'Bunny' Garnett Lover of Duncan Grant, husband of Angelica Garnett A writer, he first met members of the Bloomsbury group in 1910 but was not fully accepted by them until 1914 when he became Duncan Grant's lover. Like Grant, Garnett was a conscientious objector and having worked in France in 1915 with the Friends War Victims Relief Mission, he worked as a farm labourer to avoid conscription on his return to England. Garnett moved with Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell to Charleston farmhouse in 1916. He married Angelica Garnett in 1942.
Duncan Grant	Duncan Grant See the Duncan Grant biography section.
Mary Hutchinson	Mary Hutchinson Clive Bell's lover Introduced to Bloomsbury through Duncan Grant and Lytton Strachey, Mary Hutchinson became Clive Bell's lover. A writer and devoted patron of the arts, she commissioned murals from Grant and Vanessa Bell for her Regent's Park house.
Maynard Keynes	Maynard Keynes Key Bloomsbury supporter A brilliant economist who enjoyed a successful and influential career, Keynes became involved with Bloomsbury through his relationship with Duncan Grant whom he first met in 1905. He did much to help his artist friends and support the arts more generally; and was the main force behind the London Artists Association and the Contemporary Arts Society. Keynes' recruitment to the Treasury as a negotiator and advisor during the First World War lead to a cooling off in his relationship with the Bloomsbury artists as his position clashed with their pacifist ideals. He did however use his influence to obtain military exemptions for Grant, the Strachey brothers and David Garnett. Keynes married Lydia Lopokova, a ballerina with the Russian Ballet, in 1925. In the 1940s he was appointed chairman of CEMA (Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts) which later became The Arts Council.
	Wyndham Lewis Early associate of Roger Fry and Clive Bell A painter and writer who was associated with the Bloomsbury Group until late 1913. His work was included in the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition and he was prominent in the founding of the Omega workshops. He left Omega after a quarrel with Fry and went on to establish his own movement 'Vorticism' which aimed to reflect modern technology in art.
Lytton Strachey	Lytton Strachey Cousin of Duncan Grant A biographer and essayist, Strachey became involved with Bloomsbury through his friendship with Vanessa Bell's brother Thoby Stephen, although in fact the whole Strachey family was involved in the history of Bloomsbury. A mainstay of Bloomsbury's 'Thursday evenings' and an important figure within the Bloomsbury circle, he also introduced his cousin Duncan Grant to the group. He achieved overnight success with the publication of a collection of satirical biographical essays called Eminent Victorians in 1918.
Leonard Woolf	Leonard Woolf Married to Virginia Woolf Author and political observer. Woolf met Thoby Stephen, Lytton Strachey and Clive Bell at Cambridge University. He married Virginia Stephen, Vanessa's sister, to whom he was devoted, and supported her throughout her life. He was deeply involved with the activities of the Bloomsbury Group, helped Roger Fry with the organisation of the second Post-Impressionist exhibition, and founded the Hogarth Press with Virginia Woolf.
Virginia Woolf	Virginia Woolf Sister of Vanessa Bell, married to Leonard Woolf Novelist, essayist, biographer and critic, she was an active member of London's social and literary circles throughout her life. She developed a "modernist" style of writing that can be seen to echo the Bloomsbury painters' investigations into technique. Acting as a hostess for the 'Thursday evenings' discussion group of writers and critics, she was very much at the heart of Bloomsbury. She set up the Hogarth Press with her husband Leonard Woolf, which provided Bloomsbury artists with the opportunity of book illustration, and she was also one of Omega's important customers. She suffered from bouts of depression throughout her life and committed suicide in 1941.

All photos on this page © Tate Archive, 2003