Coming Home: Virginia Woolf by Vanessa Bell
Delightful display at Charleston Farmhouse showing the
lovely portrait of Virginian Woolf by her sister Vanessa Bell on loan from the
National Portrait Gallery.
I’m very fond of
this picture and it was lovely to see it in a new setting. The loan is part of
a series by the National Portrait Gallery called Coming Home which sees 50
portraits of iconic individuals from the national collection travelling to the
towns and cities most closely associated with their subjects. What a lovely
idea and I’ll certainly look out for more of these.
It was
particularly nice that this was painted in 1912 as Asheham just a few miles
from Charleston while Virginia was living there. It’s a tender, domestic
picture yet in a modernist style with blocks of colour in the background and
the wonderful orange chair outlining the figure. I think it shows the affection
of one sister to another although I’m not sure I normally picture Virginia
knitting in my mind.
Closing 19
January 2020
Comments