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September 27, 2017
Charleston Attic Spotlight Talks

As our days in the attic draw to a close, so too does this significant project. Being the last
in a series of Curatorial Interns over the past 3 years, we take a moment to reflect on the
achievements of our residency. In six months we have completed cataloguing and
archiving the final 3,600 objects, something which at the start of our tenure seemed like
a daunting challenge. Having seen such a vast array of sketches, paintings and
unfinished works, our own interests in the collection were bound in intrigue and a desire
to know more.
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With the end of our tenure comes a free spotlight talk, where we each discuss an area of Follow
research that has been inspired by the Angelica Garnett Gift. Starting at 1pm on
Thursday 28 September 2017, the event will take place in the large marquee at
Charleston Farmhouse, Firle. The talks are free and open to all.
The Famous Women Dinner Service: Fashion, Modernism and Identity – Vanessa
Jones
Designed by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in 1932 – 1934, the Famous Women
Dinner Service re-appeared to the art market earlier this year. As the Angelica Garnett
Gift holds nine preliminary sketches of the Famous Women, it seemed like the perfect
opportunity to unravel some of the mysteries that go along with this bewildering
representation of celebrated women. My research will focus on four of the preparatory
sketches exploring their existence mediating between fashion and art history. I establish
Bell and Grant as prolific modern artists and unravel the usefulness of using fashion as a
tool to date and identify the character on the plate. I also explore the artistic approaches
Bell and Grant use, from preliminary sketch to final design.
CHA/P/1646, Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt for the Famous Women Dinner

Service, c. 1933, pencil on card © Charleston Trust
Looking inside Vanessa Bell’s Studio – Diana Wilkins
I will be exploring the history of Vanessa Bell’s attic studio. For the last six months the
attic studio has been our working space for cataloguing the Angelica Garnett Gift of
paintings and drawings by Bell and Duncan Grant. It has been a privilege to work in this
unique space which bears tangible traces of Bell’s past presence. I will use photographs
and documents from Charleston’s archive to explain why the attic studio was created in
1939, how it was constructed and the influence of the studio environment on Bell’s work
in the later stages of her career. I will look at the scope for returning the room to its
previous condition once our archiving project has come to an end.
Vanessa Bell, 1952, The Artist in her Studio, private collection,

© Estate of Vanessa Bell, courtesy Henrietta Grant
Many thanks to the Heritage Lo ery Fund, Elizabeth Keyser Founda on, Michael Marks
and the Paul Mellon Centre for suppor ng this project.
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September 1, 2017
Local Landscapes of Firle

Amongst a box filled with stretched canvas and pain ngs on wood, we re-discovered
these fantas c landscapes of the local area.
Both painted by Vanessa Bell, the first is of the old Coach Road looking towards Firle
Tower on the right. The leaves on the trees appear to be blowing in the wind, the
farmland and coach road painted lightly in pinks and purples to represent the human
touch on the landscape.
CHA/P/5118, Vanessa Bell, painting, view of the Coach Road and Firle Tower, oil
on board, © Charleston Trust
The second pain ng is darker, with a heavier stroke to set the trees and skyline apart. As
seen from Vanessa Bell’s studio at the top of Charleston, the Sussex Weald is captured
as a mass expanse of agricultural land with nature neatly lining up.
CHA/P/5124, Vanessa Bell, painting, Sussex Weald painted from Vanessa Bell’s
studio, oil on wood, © Charleston Trust
Current view from Vanessa Bell’s studio showing how the landscape has
dramatically changed, with the house in the far background.
If you are familiar with the Sussex Downs, you will no ce that the landscape depicted
here has changed li le; the rolling hill tops, with pathways to match, and the farmers’
fields the most obvious sign of human interven on. But perhaps the way we see and
experience the countryside has changed. Looking at these landscape pain ngs with
Vanessa Bell in mind reminds us of just how isola ng and all-consuming it might have
been to permanently live at Charleston; far away from the hustle and bustle of a town.
But, these beau ful pain ngs remind us of just how inspiring these surroundings were
to Bell and how they con nue to remain an inspira on for a new genera on of ar sts.
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July 27, 2017
From Patterned to Plain: A Visit to the Courtauld

Gallery Exhibition on Omega Workshops
We visited the Courtauld Gallery’s display of items from the Omega Workshops. The
Workshops operated in London between 1913 and 1919 under the directorship of Roger
Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. The Courtauld is fortunate to be able to draw on its
extensive collection of Bloomsbury art and design, much of which was bequeathed to it
by Fry.
The current exhibition is small, but it successfully demonstrates the willingness of the
Omega artists to apply their decorative ideas in many forms, from fine art, to rugs,
screens and tableware. The exhibition even includes a musical instrument, a type of
harpsichord known as a virginal. This was extravagantly decorated by Fry, somewhat to
the dismay of Arnold Dolmetsch who made it.
The exhibition was effective in teasing out different aesthetic ideas within the group by
placing highly patterned work alongside deceptively simple ceramics. We were thrilled
to see Duncan Grant’s Lily Pond Design, familiar from the table at Charleston, applied in
a dramatically different context on a large folding screen (pattern has been photographed
below). Grant’s work made an interesting contrast with a selection of Fry’s monotone
tableware, in which Fry pursued his interest in form and the imperfections left by the
artist’s touch.
Duncan Grant, 1913-14, oil on wood, screen with

Lily Pond design, © The Samuel Courtauld Trust,
The Courtauld Gallery, London
Roger Fry, 1913, white coffee pot, , tin-glazed

earthenware © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The
Courtauld Gallery, London
The exhibition also touched on the Omega artists’ receptiveness to the influence of other
cultures. For example, Grant is said to have borrowed ‘liberally from African textiles’
for a rug design (see below).[i] This is perhaps not surprising as African designs featured
in Fry’s lectures and the Omega Workshops sold textiles produced for the African
market. Moreover, the Omega Workshops’ active period followed a period of
heightened interest in African art, especially among artists such as Picasso, Matisse and
Fry, some of whom owned African sculptures. Further signs that Grant shared their
interest can also be found in the Angelica Garnett Gift, which includes sketches of
African dance masks.
Duncan Grant, 1913, rug, hand-knotted wool with a jute or hemp warp, © The
Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
CHA/P/3316, Duncan Grant, drawing, Bapende dance

mask, colour wash and charcoal, © Charleston Trust
CHA/P/3323, Duncan Grant, Ibibio dance mask,

charcoal on paper, © Charleston Trust
The shape and colour of Fry’s ceramics echo those of the Chinese Song dynasty (960-
1279) and include his 20th century take on a traditional rice bowl and a turquoise tureen
with a bison, or Chinese lion, on the lid.
Roger Fry, c. 1916, black-glazed bowl, glazed earthenware, ©

The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
Roger Fry, 1915, blue-glazed cover tureen, glazed

earthenware, mould made © The Samuel Courtauld
Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
Previous posts on the blog describe how Duncan Grant and Vanessa
Bell shared Fry’s interest in China, especially after Julian Bell’s move
to Wuhan in central China to teach English. This is also reflected in
the Angelica Garnett Gift, where we have re-discovered tourist
souvenirs from China and sketches of figures wearing traditional dress
known as ‘Han Fu’.
CHA/P/4029, Chinese souvenir of floral

design and traditional poem, ink on
Chinese paper, © Charleston Trust
CHA/P/4024, Vanessa Bell/Duncan

Grant, Chinese child, pencil on tracing
paper, © Charleston Trust
The exhibition ‘Bloomsbury Art and Design’ continues until 21 September 2017. For
further details click here to visit their website.
[i] Courtauld Gallery London, Bloomsbury Art and Design, London: Courtauld Gallery,
2017.
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May 15, 2017
An Unexpected Frieze
A beautiful frieze was re-discovered today! Under a magnifying lens we identified that
the frieze was hand painted with a chalk based paint, applied onto plaster. Dating from
around 1800, it is possible that a technique called fresco was used, which means the
artist painted directly onto wet plaster. The frieze could have been used for a number of
different decorative purposes: a mural, the edging of a frame or it could have been
applied directly onto the wall. The frieze was not created by one of our Bloomsbury
heroes however it was evidently a source of inspiration given that it has been carefully
wrapped in brown paper.
CHA/P/3766, wallcovering frieze stuck onto squared paper wrapped in brown parcel
paper with hand written annotation ‘Frise’, chalk based paint on plaster, c. 1800.
Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
Unfortunately only one of the two frieze examples survives. With only a small amount of
debris left, the first almost non-existent frieze is decorated with shades of duck egg
green. Much more intact, the other frieze is of an acanthus leaf which is painted in
shades of brown with a delicate gold finish.
The frieze was in the middle of a sketchbook with ‘SENS’ written on the cover. It is
likely that the sketchbook belonged to Duncan Grant as the book bears his name on the
back page. As well as this, letters and postcards stored in the Tate’s Archive were sent
from Sens, France by Grant to Vanessa Bell in December
1924.[1]
Postcard written by Duncan Grant to Vanessa Bell sent from Sens, 24 December 1924.
Photograph © Tate Archives.
The paper ephemera contains Grant’s excitement after visiting Sens and Dijon
Cathedrals, explaining how they make ‘a lovely drawing’.[2] Several pages in the
sketchbook are of murals and biblical scenes that have probably been inspired by these
Cathedrals.
CHA/P/3766, biblical scene with hand written annotation ‘Sens’, pencil on paper, c.
1924. Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
On one of Grant’s many trips to France, this frieze has probably been removed from a
building of some significance given the fine workmanship of the object. Could the frieze
have come from one of these magnificent buildings Grant visited on his travels? There
are many mysteries that surround this frieze, but what an excellent thing to re-discover in
the middle of a sketchbook.
[1] In two letters to Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant speaks of his fondness of the cathedrals.
Letters can be found at the Tate Archive: www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-8010-5-1338/,
www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-8010-5-1337/
[2] Tate Archive, Postcard from Duncan Grant to Vanessa Bell, 24 December 1924,
Online access: www.tate.org.uk/art/archive/tga-8010-5-1339
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April 12, 2017
New Faces at Charleston visit Tate Britain’s Queer

British Art
Duncan Grant, Bathing, 1911. Oil paint on canvas. Photograph © Tate.
We have just joined Charleston as interns to finish cataloguing the Angelica Garnett Gift
of paintings and drawings by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.
By way of introduction, we visited Tate Britain’s exhibition Queer British Art: 1861-
1967 which runs until 1 October. The exhibition ‘explores connections between art and
a wide range of sexualities and gender identities’ during the century before the partial
decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967.[1]
Diana says ‘On entering the exhibition the initial impression is of a conventional
Victorian display of classical sculpture and paintings in a somewhat gloomy setting.
Then as my eyes adjusted I could see that the curators have selected the artworks with an
eye to a queer aesthetic. The muscular male nude ‘The Sluggard’ (1885) by the highly
successful Lord Leighton, contrasts with the delicate drawings of Simeon Solomon,
whose life ended in poverty after a criminal prosecution. For me, the exhibits raised the
question of what could and could not be shown in public. By-and-large, the focus is on
what was displayed during the artists’ lifetimes.’
‘Leaving the dark Victorian galleries, it came as something of a relief to enter a much
lighter room focusing on ‘Bloomsbury and Beyond’. Duncan Grant’s ‘Bathing’ (1911)
dominates this room and is accompanied by Grant’s private drawings from the Angelica
Garnett Gift which were lent by Charleston. Grant’s work is complemented by portraits
of people linked to the Bloomsbury Group, such as Paul Roche, which look out boldly
into the room. In these pictures, straightforward contemporary settings replace the
classical allusions which had made earlier works acceptable to the public.
‘The scope for different identities is examined in the next room on ‘Defying
Convention’. A highlight here is Laura Knight’s wryly-titled ‘Self Portrait’ (1913)
where the artist shows herself fully clothed and painting a female nude, prompting the
audience to consider whose sexuality is on display.’
Vanessa adds ‘Something that struck me in the exhibition was the attention given to
clothing, the dressed and undressed body, and the influence this had in signifying or
subverting ideas of queerness. Symbolising the importance of clothing in the exhibition
was Roger Fry’s portrait ‘Edward Carpenter’ (1894). Painted with a proud stance
Carpenter’s long dark coat is referred to as a ‘very anarchist overcoat’. His coat is no
longer merely a thing to keep him dry, it is a thing that represents his socialist ideas,
reflecting his activism for the rights of homosexuality.’
‘A personal highlight from the exhibition was William Strang’s ‘Lady with a Red Hat’
(1918). In this portrait Vita Sackville-West wears an incredible red hat and is posed
rather elegantly. We learn of her dismissal of modern conventions as she often wears
men’s clothing and has a male persona named ‘Julian’. This portrait acts as a binary into
Sackville-West’s life. On the one hand she is shown as a fashionable woman of the time,
on the other we see how she hides her male persona behind the very clothes she wears,
subverting the perception of the viewer away from the ‘Julian’ and hinting at her
complex sexuality.
‘Charles Buchel’s portrait of lesbian writer ‘Radclyffe Hall’ (1918) further suggests how
dress can reflect identity. Encapsulating women’s fashionable clothing of this period,
Hall wears a skirt and jacket. Predominantly worn by men, the addition of a cravat to
her ensemble blurs the boundaries between what women and men should and should not
wear embodying and embracing ideas of gender fluidity. In addition, room 3 specifically
looks at theatre and performance. The performative nature of fashion and clothing is
evident here. We see ‘Soldiers in Skirts’ poster from 1945 and several 1920s
photographs taken by Cecil Beaton where both men and women are dressed in women’s
clothing and heavily made-up, often making it difficult to distinguish between male and
female subjects.’
‘Queer British Art: 1861-1967 highlights the importance of fashion in queer art. Whether
alleviating oppressions, dressing up, highlighting gender fluidity or questioning
convention.’
‘We both really enjoyed the exhibition and it was ideal for giving us the wider context to
life at Charleston.’
This is an exciting time for Charleston which has lent works by Duncan Grant and
Vanessa Bell to the Sussex Modernism exhibition at Two Temple Place, London, which
runs until 23 April 2017, and to the Vanessa Bell: 1879-1961 solo exhibition at the
Dulwich Picture Gallery, which is on until 4 June 2017. Later this summer, Clare
Barlow will be speaking at Charleston’s A Gay Outing – further details will be
announced on Charleston’s website.
Diana Wilkins and Vanessa Jones
[1] Tate Britain, ‘Queer British Art: 1861-1967’, Tate Britain (London), 2017
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March 10, 2017
In memory of Howard Hodgkins, 1932 – 2017.

This interview with Howard Hodgkins by Frances Spalding, was
published in issue 6 of the Charleston Magazine (Winter/Spring
1992/3). We reproduce it in its entirety as a tribute to Hodgkins,
who died on 9th March 2017.
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November 1, 2016
Berwick Church murals – preliminary sketches by

Duncan Grant
Prompted by a collection of drawings and sketches found inside a thin blue cardboard
folder labelled ‘Berwick Church’ (CHA/P/603), this week’s blog article examines some
of Duncan Grant’s preliminary studies for the painted wall murals created for Berwick
Church in Sussex between 1941 and 1944.
On the 10 October 1943 a dedication service was held at St Michael and All Angels
Church in Berwick Village in honour of the completion of a collection of new wall
murals designed and painted by local Bloomsbury artists’, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell
and her son Quentin.
Although they had been commissioned in 1940 by Brighton-based, Bishop Bell, the
designs were not fully approved by Berwick’s Parish Church Council until a year later. It
was recommended that the murals be painted on plasterboard panels which were
constructed in a barn at Charleston.[1] The first set of murals entitled The Annunciation
and The Nativity by Vanessa Bell, Christ in Glory by Duncan Grant and The Wise and
Foolish Virgins by Quentin Bell were largely finished by January 1943 and raised into
position by spring that year.[2]
The first few sketches in the folder are connected with Bishop Bell himself, besides a
full portrait study of him kneeling, there is a detailed study of his mitre and his crook.
These were preliminary sketches for the figure of Bishop Bell as represented in the
group of church officials to the right hand side of the arch in Christ in Glory.
CHA/P/603/9, Duncan Grant, Dr. Bell kneeling, c. 1943. © The Estate of Duncan Grant.
Berwick Church murals, Duncan Grant, detail of Bishop Bell kneeling, c. 1942. © of the
Estate of Vanessa Bell 1961 and the Estate of Duncan Grant 1978, courtesy of Henrietta
Garnett. Photograph: berwickchurch.org.uk/bloomsbury.
CHA/P/603/4, Duncan Grant, The Bishop’s Crook. © The Estate of Duncan Grant.
CHA/P/603/3, Dr. Bell’s Mitre, c. 1943, © The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph ©
The Charleston Trust.
For Grant, Bishop Bell was
‘a most obliging sitter, going down on his knees so that Duncan could
draw him in the position he wanted and lending him his elaborate
crosier, robes and mitre so that work could continue in his absence’.[3]
However, work on the church decorations did not end with the dedication service. In
April 1944 a new Faculty was granted for decorations to the chancel screen and pulpit, a
crucifixion on the west wall and an altar picture.
The last two sketches in the blue folder (CHA/P/603/14 and CHA/P/603/11) appear to be
preliminary designs for The Crucifixion or The Victory of Calvary, a mural of Christ on
the cross completed by Duncan Grant in 1944.
Duncan Grant, The Crucifixion or The Victory of Calvary, Berwick Church mural, 1944,
© of the Estate of Vanessa Bell 1961 and the Estate of Duncan Grant 1978, courtesy of
Henrietta Garnett. Photograph: berwickchurch.org.uk/bloomsbury.
CHA/P/603/13, Duncan Grant, preliminary sketch for The Crucifixion, c.1943, pencil on
paper, Berwick Church murals. © The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph © The
Charleston Trust.
Likely to be experimenting with ideas for the composition of Christ, Duncan Grant was
clearly influenced by his admiration of early Italian Renaissance art in this pencil sketch.
He had visited Florence some forty years earlier in 1904 with his mother Ethel and spent
every day at the Uffizi copying works by artists such as Piero della Francesca and
Masaccio.[4] It is also likely that he visited Basilica di Santa Croce, the main Franciscan
church in Florence where he would have seen Crucifix, 1287–1288 a work by Cimabue
which probably provided inspiration for his later pencil study.
Cimabue, Crucifix, 1287–1288. Distemper on wood panel, 448 cm × 390 cm. Basilica di
Santa Croce. Photograph: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei.
Grant particularly favoured the work of Michelangelo, in the autumn of 1910 he was
copying Entombment c. 1500-01 at the National Gallery in London.[5] In his sketch for
The Crucifixion mural Christ’s head is depicted in a bowed position, slightly crooked to
one side echoing the pose of Christ’s head in Michelangelo’s painting.
Michelangelo, Entombment, c. 1500-01, tempura on panel, National Gallery,

Photograph: National Gallery.
Duncan Grant, preliminary sketch for The Crucifixion or The Victory of Calvary,
Berwick Church mural, 1944, © of the Estate of Vanessa Bell 1961 and the Estate of
Duncan Grant 1978, courtesy of Henrietta Garnett. Photograph:
berwickchurch.org.uk/bloomsbury.
In the preliminary sketch by Grant for The Crucifixion shown on the Berwick Church
website, Christ is drawn in more detail; the head is still in the same position as in
CHA/603/13 but the loin cloth is draped differently. In the coloured version of the
drawing, the head is straighter and the cloth is tied and more full rather than draped.
However, Christ’s torso in Grant’s coloured study CHA/P/603/11 is similar in shape and
composition to that in Cimabue’s work.
CHA/P/603/11, Duncan Grant, preliminary drawing for The Crucifixion, Berwick

Church mural, c. 1943, gouache on paper. © The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph ©
The Charleston Trust.
Edward Le Bas, a close friend of Duncan Grant modelled for the figure of Christ in The
Crucifixion mural.[6] When compared with the sketches detailed above, two other
studies CHA/P/2543 and CHA/P/2544 in the Angelica Garnett gift catalogue certainly
seem to indicate that Grant was sketching from a life model, especially considering the
detail depicted in muscle definition and proportion. Moreover, the head position, raised
and looking upward to the right side is also nearer to that of the finished mural.
CHA/P/2543 (above) and (below) CHA/P/ 2544, Duncan Grant, preliminary study for
The Crucifixion, Berwick Church mural, c. 1943, pencil on paper, © The Estate of
Duncan Grant. Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
It was in 1943, at the time that Grant was working on the church murals that Edward Le
Bas first visited Charleston. He recalled his visit in a letter to Grant dated 2 July 1943:
‘I did enjoy the weekend, you’ve no idea how much: to see again how
life can really be lived [….] The church paintings grow in my mind in
calmness and power.’[7]
References:
[1] Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A biography, Pimlico, London (1998), p. 382.
[2] http://www.berwickchurch.org.uk/bloomsbury%20at%20berwick%20home.html
[3] Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A biography, p.384.
[4] Ibid., p.33.
[5] Ibid., p.97.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid., p.397.
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October 13, 2016
Book illustrations and jacket designs by

Duncan Grant
As Charleston looks forward to a weekend of Centenary celebrations, ‘The Attic’ is
being specially prepared to open its doors for visitors this Sunday 16 October. Rarely on
show to the public, the space, accessed by narrow, steep stairs at the top of the
farmhouse was once Vanessa Bells’ studio and now stores Charleston’s extensive archive
collection and works of art.
My first blog post as Charleston’s ‘Attic intern’ showcases some of Duncan Grant’s
book illustrations and book jacket designs from the 1960s. Newly catalogued from the
Angelica Garnett Gift is a collection of Duncan Grant’s correspondence regarding his
illustrations for a previously undiscovered short story by Virginia Woolf featuring ‘Nurse
Lugton’ and a book jacket design for a novel by Margaret Lane called A smell of
burning.
Nurse Lugton’s Curtain.
A letter dated 18 May 1865 written to Duncan Grant by John Willett of The Times
Literary Supplement [TLS] discussed available space in the supplement for the ‘story
and illustrations’:
CHA/E/253, ‘Letter to Duncan Grant from John Willett deputy editor of The Times
Literary Supplement’, 18 May 1965. © The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph © The
Charleston Trust.
Further research has revealed that ‘the story’ referred to in the letter was a children’s tale
written by Virginia Woolf featuring a character named ‘Nurse Lugton’. It had been
newly discovered in 1965 by children’s fiction author, Wallace Hildick (1925-2001).
According to an article written by Hildick published in TLS of the 17 June 1965, this
story had been found in the second volume of the Mrs Dalloway manuscript acquired by
the British Museum in 1963. Hildick edited the story and it was framed with illustrations
drawn by Duncan Grant and published alongside the newspaper article. [1]
‘Children’s Books, The ….. by Virginia Woolf’, The Times Literary Supplement,
Thursday, June 17, 1965; pg. 496; Issue 3303. © News International Associated Services
Limited Gale Document Number: EX1200337421.
Also in the archives from the Angelica Garnett Gift are two manila envelopes which
refer to Virginia Woolf’s story; item CHA/E/252 once contained an illustration and item
CHA/E/251 is inscribed by Duncan Grant with a handwritten list of illustrations, such as
‘1. Nurse Lugton asleep’ which probably refers to the illustration of Nurse Lugton in the
Times article.
CHA/E/252, verso, manila envelope, © The Estate of Duncan Grant: Photograph © The
Charleston Trust.
CHA/E/251, verso, manila envelope with inscription, © The Estate of Duncan Grant:
The Virginia Woolf Collection at the E.J. Pratt Library at the Victoria University in the
University of Toronto holds a Duncan Grant drawing entitled Nurse Lugton was asleep
with handwritten notes by Duncan Grant of the opening passage of the story, first
published in 1965 in a collection as Nurse Lugton’s Curtain. In this version of the
drawing Nurse Lugton looks somewhat different to her Times Literary Supplement
counterpart.
Duncan Grant (1885-1978), Nurse Lugton was asleep, study for a page of Nurse
Lugton’s Curtain by Virginia Woolf PR6045.O72 N8 1991 VUWO. Photograph: Victoria
University in the University of Toronto.
A smell of burning
A letter from Roger Machell of Hamish Hamilton to Duncan Grant dated 10 August
1965 refers to Grants interest in designing a jacket for a novel by Margaret Lane (1907-
1994) called A smell of burning.
Margaret Lane, A smell of burning, 1965, Hardcover, 1st Edition. Published 1965 by
Hamish Hamilton. Image: Goodreads.com. Cover design by Duncan Grant.
The letter contains two sketches, one by Margaret Lane’s husband, Lord Huntingdon and
the other by Margaret Lane herself ‘showing the kind of window that might make a
suitable basis for a design’.[2]
CHA/P/ 3122, Lord Huntingdon, Drawing (1), ideas for jacket design for A smell of
burning, 1965. © The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
CHA/P/ 3121, Margaret Lane, Drawing (2), ideas for jacket design for A smell of
burning, 1965. © The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
Author and critic Margaret Lane was the former wife of Brian Wallace, son of writer,
Edgar Wallace. She was the second wife of Lord Huntington whom she married in 1944.
The couple lived at Black Bridge House in Beaulieu where her artistic talents were
expressed ‘Bloomsbury’ style: according to Elizabeth Jenkins writing Margaret’s
obituary for the Independent, her ‘creative faculty found expression in decorating
surfaces [….] and in her later life the hobby of covering screens, pasted with a collage of
scraps, wonderfully collected, each of them a work of art’.[3]
Godfrey Argent, Margaret Lane (Lady Huntingdon), bromide print, 28 July 1969,
Photographs Collection National Portrait Gallery x165942. © National Portrait Gallery,
London.
[1] Wallace Hildick, ‘Virginia Woolf for Children?’, The Times Literary Supplement
(London, England), Thursday, June 17, 1965; pg. 496; Issue 3303.
[2] CHA/E/255, ‘designing a jacket for A smell of burning’, Letter from Roger Machell
(editorial director) of Hamish Hamilton (publishers) to Duncan Grant, 10 August 1965,
The Charleston Trust Archives.
[3] Elizabeth Jenkins, ‘Obituary Margaret Lane’, Independent, Thursday 17 February

1994, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-margaret-lane-1394635.html
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September 14, 2016
Duncan Grant and Henri Matisse

In August, the curatorial team began cataloguing the larger works on paper and canvas
of the Angelica Garnett Gift. The discovery of a dynamic pencil drawing depicting four
frantically moving figures encircling a fifth immediately bring Matisse’s famous work
Dance to mind.
The rough sketch is undated and unsigned, and like so many of the quick ephemeral
drawings by Grant in the Gift, it is in perfect condition. Was this sketch a design for a
larger, more detailed work on canvas, perhaps? Had Grant directly been inspired by
Matisse’s Dance?
CHA/P/3004 Recto. Artist Unknown (Likely to be by Duncan Grant), study of moving

figures in a circle, pencil on paper. Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
We have found several items in the archives that indicate an interest on the part of
Bloomsbury in Matisse and his career. There are two records of Matisse exhibitions; one,
a card for ‘The Exhibition of Contemporary French Painting’ (undated), and the other, a
poster advertising a show at the Musee Matisse in 1955. We also found a commercial
print of the work ‘Nu Bleu’, bought by Duncan Grant in 1968 after visiting the ‘Matisse
1869-1954’ Retrospective Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery by the Arts Council.
CHA/E/222 Recto. Exhibition advertisement card, for Henri Matisse exhibition, date and
place of exhibition unknown. Card © The Estate of Duncan Grant. . Photograph © The
Charleston Trust.
CHA/P/83 Recto. Print, of Henri Matisse’s work ‘Nu Bleu’, purchased by Duncan Grant
in 1968. Print © The Estate of Duncan Grant. . Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
CHA/P/317 Recto. Poster, for Henri Matisse exhibition in Nice, France, in 1955. Poster
© The Estate of Duncan Grant. Photograph © The Charleston Trust.
Nasturtiums, or Nasturtiums with the Painting ‘Dance’ I, as it was later named, features
a memorable motif from the most well-known early modernist work by Matisse,
‘Dance’. In both works, the nude figures depicted form a circle, linked by their hands’
their bodies bowed in the joyful movement of dance. The scene is a celebratory one: the
figures have shed their clothes with gay abandon, and are embracing all that is natural
within and around themselves.
‘Here was a possible path,’ wrote Vanessa Bell of the first Post-Impressionist exhibition
in 1910 in which Matisse’s work featured. ‘A sudden liberation and encouragement to
[1]
feel for oneself, which were absolutely overwhelming.’ The desire to paint, then,
matches the desire of Matisse’s nude figures to dance.
Duncan Grant, ‘Dancers’, 1910, oil paint on canvas. Photograph © Tate.
Looking at Duncan Grant’s 1910 work Dancers , one can see straight away how Grant
had been inspired by the bright colours, and the bold and dynamic figures caught in
flowing movement that Matisse depicted in his Dance series. ‘It is as if Duncan had
suddenly learnt to diminish the emphasis on materiality, on textures, light and shade, in
order to allow for a more vibrant use of line, interval, structure and movement,’ writes
Frances Spalding of Grant’s work. ‘Matisse helped liberate him from the tyranny of
appearances.’
[1]Frances Spalding, Vanessa Bell, p.101
PS. It may be of interest to regular readers that we will shortly be bidding a sad farewell
to the Charleston Attic. What a rewarding 6 months working as Curatorial Interns it has
been- from the fascinating discoveries we have made to the in-depth research carried out,
not forgetting our involvement with the Festival.
We would like to welcome our new Intern, Dr. Anne Stutchbury, to the Attic, and wish
her the best of luck with her work.
A big thank you to our followers- your readership has been greatly appreciated! Keep
following The Charleston Attic Blog for new and exciting archival discoveries and
research insights…
Philippa Bougeard and Emily Hill
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Image | July 25, 2016
This week a team from Dulwich Picture Gallery visited Charleston for the day
in order to photograph objects and interiors for the upcoming exhibition
‘Vanessa Bell 1876-1961’.
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THE CHARLESTON ATTIC

September 27, 2017

Charleston Attic Spotlight Talks

CHA/P/1646, Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt for the Famous Women Dinner

Looking inside Vanessa Bell’s Studio – Diana Wilkins

Vanessa Bell, 1952, The Artist in her Studio, private collection,

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Local Landscapes of Firle

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July 27, 2017

From Patterned to Plain: A Visit to the Courtauld

Duncan Grant, 1913-14, oil on wood, screen with

Roger Fry, 1913, white coffee pot, , tin-glazed

CHA/P/3316, Duncan Grant, drawing, Bapende dance

CHA/P/3323, Duncan Grant, Ibibio dance mask,

Roger Fry, c. 1916, black-glazed bowl, glazed earthenware, ©

Roger Fry, 1915, blue-glazed cover tureen, glazed

CHA/P/4029, Chinese souvenir of floral

CHA/P/4024, Vanessa Bell/Duncan

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May 15, 2017

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April 12, 2017

New Faces at Charleston visit Tate Britain’s Queer

Duncan Grant, Bathing, 1911. Oil paint on canvas. Photograph © Tate.

Diana Wilkins and Vanessa Jones

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March 10, 2017

In memory of Howard Hodgkins, 1932 – 2017.

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Berwick Church murals – preliminary sketches by

For Grant, Bishop Bell was

Michelangelo, Entombment, c. 1500-01, tempura on panel, National Gallery,

CHA/P/603/11, Duncan Grant, preliminary drawing for The Crucifixion, Berwick

[3] Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A biography, p.384.

[4] Ibid., p.33.

[5] Ibid., p.97.

[7] Ibid., p.397.

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October 13, 2016

Book illustrations and jacket designs by

Nurse Lugton’s Curtain.

[3] Elizabeth Jenkins, ‘Obituary Margaret Lane’, Independent, Thursday 17 February

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September 14, 2016

Duncan Grant and Henri Matisse

CHA/P/3004 Recto. Artist Unknown (Likely to be by Duncan Grant), study of moving

Duncan Grant, ‘Dancers’, 1910, oil paint on canvas. Photograph © Tate.

[1]Frances Spalding, Vanessa Bell, p.101

Philippa Bougeard and Emily Hill

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Image | July 25, 2016

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