Letter from Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant

Description

Letter from Vanessa Bell, 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London, to Duncan Grant, Paris, who is recovering from flu while working for Jacques Copeau at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier. She describes her current work - a pavement mosaic for Lady Jean Hamilton, reworking a stained glass design for the same patron that was rejected in favour of Roger Fry's; and a screen. Fry is pessimistic about the Omega Workshops' lack of success and the possible bankruptcy of its backer Hagop Kevorkian. She describes a visit with Clive to Annie and Leonard Raven-Hill, which concluded with their hostess using the chamber pot in Vanessa's presence, a scene she illustrates using her children's coloured chalks. She tells of an exchange of gifts with Simon Bussy, and Ottoline Morrel's attempt to heal their three-year rift, and proposes a picture-buying subscription club. Also mentions Paul Cézanne, Henry Lamb, Margery Snowden, and Lytton Strachey.

Read more