The Bloomsbury Group

In the Beginning…The Bloomsbury Group initially began around

1904 when friends at Cambridge came together to discuss a wide range of societal ideas in a very informal fashion. The group

of writers, artists, and intellects, were sometimes considered rather snobbish for

their wit . Their Thursday night conversations at the home of the Stephen

family in Bloomsbury, London, helped to lay the foundation for their name. The group stayed rather tight knit, connected by a

variety of things, including blood, friendships, and sex. The World Wars greatly affected the group, and by the beginning of World War II, the group’s importance had disintegrated.

WRITERSVirginia Woolf

Lytton StracheyDavid Garnett

Vita Sackville West E.M. Forster

Leonard Woolf

Source: www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vwoolf.htm

Virginia Woolf Born: January 25, 1882 Died: March 28,

1941Virginia Woolf was born to Julia

Jackson Duckworth and Sir Leslie Stephen; both parents were active

members in the literary community, giving Virginia access to their world. Her childhood was

peppered with many tragic occurrences: first, she was

sexually assaulted by her half brother, Gerald Duckworth.

Secondly, her mother died in her early teens, shortly followed by

the death of her half sister, Stella Duckworth. This was then

followed by the long slow death of her father to cancer in 1904. Her brother Thoby died in 1906, which

left Virginia in the midst of a mental breakdown.

In 1904, shortly after her father’s death, Virginia and her sister, Vanessa, moved to a house in

Bloomsbury, which was central to the activities of the group. In

1905, Virginia started writing for the Times Literary Supplement. She married Leonard Woolf in

1912; together, they opened the publishing company, Hogarth

Press, which went on to publish Virginia’s books. In 1923, Virginia met Vita Sackville-West and began

having a passionate affair with her. After a final attack of mental illness, Virginia loaded her pockets with rocks, walked into the River

Ouse, and drowned herself. In her suicide note, she wrote to her

husband:

"I have a feeling I shall go mad. I cannot go on longer in these terrible times. I hear

voices and cannot concentrate on my work. I have fought against it but cannot fight any

longer. I owe all my happiness to you but cannot go on and spoil your life."

During her lifetime, Virginia wrote over 500 essays and many books, including:

•The Voyage Out (1915)•Night and Day (1919)•Jacob’s Room (1922)•Mrs. Dalloway (1925)

•To the Lighthouse (1927)•Orlando (1928)

•A Room of One’s Own (1929)•The Waves (1931)

•Three Guineas (1938)

Lytton Strachey Born: March 1, 1880 Died: January 21,

1932Born the eleventh of thirteen children, Strachey became a

famous British writer, specifically with his form of biographies. The

most famous example of his biography style is probably Eminent

Victorians, which was four biographies of Victorian heroes that

detailed their faults, flaws, and failures. He studied at Trinity

College, Cambridge, where he met his Bloomsbury friends, including Leonard Woolf. Within the group,

Lytton was the first to use first names and was also the first to

approach the issue of sex. It is said that he once pointed to a stain on Vanessa Bell’s dress and asked,

“Semen?”

Though homosexual, he was committed to several women in his

life. He actually proposed to Virginia Woolf, but it was with Dora

Carrington to whom he was most devoted. They met in 1915, where

Dora fell in love Lytton. Shortly thereafter, he moved into Dora’s home with her husband, Ralph Partridge. The three were all

sexually involved.

In 1931, Lytton’s health started declining rapidly from unknown

causes. In January 1932, he died from stomach cancer. Three weeks

later, Dora killed herself because she was incapable of living without him.

His books included: Landmarks in French Literature

(1912)Eminent Victorians: Cardinal

Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Arnold, General Gordon (1918)

Queen Victoria (1921)Books and Characters, French and

English (1922)Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic

History (1928)Portraits in Miniature and Other

Essays (1931)

Sources: http://therem.net/bloom-lytton.htm and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/strachey.htm

David “Bunny” GarnettBorn: 1892 Died: 1981

Though raised in the ranks of the Bloomsbury group, he was not

officially considered a member of the group until he became the lover of Duncan Grant. David was actually married to the painter Rachel Alice Marshall until she died in 1940. He

then married Angelica Grant in 1942, who was the daughter of his former lover, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Stephen Bell. It is said that when Angelica was just one day old, he

wrote to Strachey: "I think of marrying it. When she is 20, I shall be 46 - will it be scandalous?" It

turned out it was scandalous. Even the liberal Grant family was

extremely disturbed that their daughter would marry her father’s

former lover. He and Angelica ended up having four daughters

together.

Garnett is responsible for writing several books, including:

•Lady into Fox (1922)

•The Sailor's Return (1925)

•Aspects of Love (1955)

Sources: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/garnett.htm and http://www.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/bloomsburyhtml/group.htm

Vita Sackville WestBorn: 1892 Died: June 2, 1962

Vita began writing poetry and plays when she was just eleven years old. From the time she was fourteen to

eighteen, she wrote eight novels and five plays. In 1913, at the age of twenty one, she married Harold

Nicholson, with whom she had two sons. She tried to be a “dutiful wife,” but when Harold informed her of his

gay lover, they lived happily in a purely platonic relationship from that point

forward. She had several lesbian relationships, but her most famous was

with Virginia Woolf.

She also had a very public relationship with Violet Keppel. Violet was the

daughter of Alice Keppel, Edward VII's mistress. Vita and Violet’s affair

continued even after Violet married. They eventually tried to elope to Paris, but their husbands convinced them to

come home.

She is responsible for having written several books, including:

•Challenge

•The Edwardians

•All Passion Spent

•Family History

•The Land

•The Garden

•English Country Houses

After her death, her son Nigel Nicholson, published a book about her marriage,

called A Portrait of a Marriage. Source: http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/vs-west.htm and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/v_sackville_w.htm

E.M. ForsterBorn: January 1, 1879 Died: June 7,

1970Accidentally christened Edward Morgan,

instead of Henry Morgan, E.M. Forster had a difficult time at Tonbridge School,

because his classmates were particularly harsh to Forster over his sexual orientation.

Eventually, Forster also ended up attending college in Cambridge, where he was associated with the Apostles, which

had many future Bloomsbury group members. He was also a good friend of Virginia Woolf. His father died before he was two years old, and the rest of life is

known for being dominated by his mother and his aunts. Fortunately, one of his aunt’s legacies provided him with the

opportunity to travel extensively and to write.

In the winter of 1916, he met a seventeen year old tram conductor, Mohammad el-

Adl, with whom he fell in love with. Mohammad died from tuberculosis in 1922, but continued to act as the inspiration for

Forster’s works.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._M._Forster and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/forster.htm

He wrote over forty six short stories and many novels, including:

•Where Angels Fear to Tread

•The Longest Journey

•A Room With a View

•Howard’s End

•A Passage to India

•Maurice

•Artic Summer

Leonard WoolfBorn: November 25, 1880

Died: August 14, 1969

Leonard was the third of ten children of Soloman Rees Sydney and Marie Woolf. He attended Trinity College at Cambridge, where he

met Lytton Strachey, Clive Bell, Thoby Stephen (Virginia’s brother), John Maynard Keynes, and E.M. Forster. In 1912, he married Virginia

Stephen, and together they became the center of the Bloomsbury Group. He spent much of his time taking care of his wife, who

suffered from mental illness. Together, though, they formed Hogarth Press, a publishing house. He was the editor of several publications,

including International Review, Contemporary Review, National Athenaeum, and Political Quarterly. He also wrote several books,

including:

•The Village in the Jungle - 1913 •The Wise Virgins - 1914

•International Government - 1916 •Cooperation and the Future of Industry - 1918

•Economic Imperialism - 1920 •Empire and Commerce in Africa - 1920

•Socialism and Co-operation - 1921 •Fear and Politics - 1925

•Essays on Literature, History, Politics - 1927 •Hunting the Highbrow - 1927

•Imperialism and Civilization - 1928 •After the Deluge (Principia Politica), 3 vols. - 1931, 1939,

1953 •Barbarians At The Gate - 1939

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Woolf

ARTISTSVanessa Bell Duncan Grant

Roger Fry Dora Carrington

Vanessa BellBorn: May 1879 Died: 1961

Vanessa, the older sister of Virginia Woolf, started her artwork when she was seventeen years old. Unlike Virginia, she felt repressed by their father’s patriarchal parenting, and

when he died, was happy to move with Virginia and their brothers to Bloomsbury. In 1907, she married the art critic Clive Bell, but

after having given birth to their children, Julian and Quentin, the couple slowly

separated. Though still married to Clive, she was an active couple with Roger Fry, but later

fell in love with the painter Duncan Grant. Together with Grant’s lover, David Garnett, the three moved into their farmhouse which

they named Charleston. With Grant, she gave birth to Angelica, but always claimed

that Angelica was the daughter of Clive Bell for the sake of society.

Some of her works include:

Source: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/bell.html

Duncan Grant Born: 1885 Died: 1978

As a talented painter, Duncan Grant was a central figure in the

Bloomsbury group, courting many of the members. His lovers

included: Adrian Stephen (his future “wife” 's brother), David Garnett (his future daughter’s husband), Lytton Strachey (his cousin), Maynard Keynes, and Vanessa Bell. He was, by all

accounts, “handsome, kind, and charming.”

His artwork was also popular. He was the co-director of the Omega

Workshops, and some of his artwork includes:

Source: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/grant.htm

Roger FryBorn: 1866 Died: September 9, 1934

Though Roger studied at Cambridge in scientific studies, he followed his college career by going to Paris and Italy to study art. Relatively soon, he became a famous artist and art critic. In 1896, he married his wife

Helen Coombe; however, she suffered from mental illness and was forced to be admitted into a

mental institution until her death in 1937. Fry was forced then to raise his children, Pamela and Julian, by himself. He met Clive and Vanessa Bell in 1910, but started an affair

with Vanessa in 1911when he traveled with them to Turkey, that ended soon thereafter in 1913.

Fry coined the phrase “Post-Impressionist” for the art world,

and also founded the Omega Workshops. He emphasized

“form over content,” or how a piece looked over what it meant.

In 1924, after short relationships with Nina Hamnett and Josette

Coatmellec, he met Helen Anrep, who was twenty years younger than him. She left her husband, and they lived happily together

until his death in 1934. His ashes were placed in a vault in a coffin designed by Vanessa Bell. Some

of his works include:

Source: http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/rog-fry.htm

Dora Carrington Born: March 29, 1893 Died: March 11,

1932 After learning to paint at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and also meeting John Nash and Mark Gertler, Dora Carrington became a popular artist. She preferred to be called, “Carrington,” and rejected Mark

Gertler for the gay Lytton Strachey. In 1921, the cross dressing Carrington married Ralph Partridge, with whom

she had a ménage a trois with Lytton. After Lytton died in January 1932 from

stomach cancer, Carrington shot herself the following March after

realizing she could not live without him.

Her artwork was similar to Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell’s, but it was more natural and more naïve. Some

of her work includes:

Source: http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/carrington.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dora_Carrington

Others in the Group

J. Maynard KeynesClive Bell

J. Maynard KeynesBorn: June 5, 1883 Died: April 21,

1946 Keynes was born to John Neville Keynes, an

economics professor at Cambridge University, and Florence Ada Brown, the first woman mayor of Cambridge. At 6’6”, Keynes

was a a close friend to Virginia Woolf and other Bloomsburyists and a lover to Duncan

Grant. Even after Keynes married the Russian ballerina, Lydia Lopokova, in 1918, Keynes continued to give Grant money for

the rest of his life.

Keynes was a brilliant economist and is still considered one of the most important

economists ever. His theories are thought responsible for the economic boom of Western countries from 1945 to 1975,

making it the Age of Keynes.

Not only was he an amazing economist, but an impressive investor, too. In the Stock Market Crash of 1929, his investments increased 13.2%, while the rest of the

world’s investments decreased by 0.5%.

Keynes died from a cardiac infarction in 1946.

His works included:

•The Economic Consequences of the Peace

•Treatise of Probability

•Treatise on Money

•A Tract on Monetary Reform

•General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (his greatest

work)Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes and http://bloomsbury.denise-randle.co.uk/keynes.htm

Clive Bell Born: September 16, 1881 Died:

September 18, 1964

Like the other Bloomsbury group members, the art critic Clive Bell was

educated at Trinity College in Cambridge. In 1907, he met and

married Vanessa Stephen, Virginia Woolf’s older sister. After Vanessa

gave birth to their two sons, Julian and Quentin, the couple slowly fell apart.

Clive and Vanessa remained close friends, spending “family” vacations

together, and he continued to support her financially. Together with Roger

Fry, he helped create several important artistic ideas, including

Significant Form, Post Impressionism, and exhorting form over content. His

publication of “Art” in 1914 helped him earn a permanent place in the art

world.

Sources: http://www.tate.org.uk/archivejourneys/bloomsburyhtml/group.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Bell