Vanessa Bell was a central figure within the Bloomsbury Group and lent to a stability and coherence it might have otherwise have lacked. A talented artist, she held sway with her acuity, integrity and sense of humour. Yet she has remained inscrutable, glimpses of her life appearing only through her sister Virginia Woolf.

In this authorized biography, Frances Spalding draws upon a mass of unpublished documents to reveal Vanessa Bell's considerable achievements, in both her art and her increasingly unorthodox life. A sympathetic account is given of her marriage to Clive Bell, her affair with Roger Fry and the complex nature of her lasting relationship with Duncan Grant. It is a fitting tribute to a woman of great paradox, wit and honesty.

Orion, 1996.
ISBN: 9780297781622. 399 pp.
Softcover. Very good.