Virginia Woolf: Art, Life and Vision

Fabulous exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at the life and work of Virginian Woolf.

I admit from the outset of this review that I am a huge fan of Virginian Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group so I was either going to love this show or be super critical! Luckily I loved it! I was unsure at first why it started with the bombing of Tavistock Square but when you got to the end you realized that the pictures taken in that house were a great overview of Virginia’s life and style and it meant the whole show came full circle. You felt you could have gone round again in a continuation of the story.

Even though I have seen a lot of Bloomsbury material there was a lot in the show I’d never seen before even as book illustrations such as a Carte de Viste of Virginian in mourning in 1895. It was interesting to read who had loaned material and many items where you stood thinking “how did they get that” you realised the item had been lent by Mrs Quentin Bell, daughter in law of Virginia’s sister Vanessa.

There was a perfect wall of portraits in the Bloomsbury colours and it was great to see pictures I knew well from Charleston in a different setting particularly the one of Sydney Saxon Turner playing the piano.

I was very moved to see the walking stick Virginia left at the side of the river when she killed herself and a copy of the Hitler’s blacklist open on the page naming Virginia and Leonard.

Review
Times
Independent
Evening Standard

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