Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Bell, Vanessa, 1879-1961
- Abstract:
- A series of letters written by British painter Vanessa Bell to her son Julian Bell.
- Extent:
- 1.25 Linear Feet (1 box)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Vanessa Bell letters to Julian Bell, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
A collection of thirty-six letters from Vanessa Bell to her son Julian Bell which discuss family, vacation and travel plans, and other personal matters. The letters are written from Sussex, Essex, and London as well as France. There are references to Virginia Woolf in several of the letters. There is one letter with a small drawing of a butterfly and one letter from Angelica (Bell) Garnett which contains several drawings.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Vanessa (Stephen) Bell (1879-1961) was a British painter, interior designer, and a central figure in the Bloomsbury group -- a group of friends, artists, writers, and intellectuals united around a belief in the importance of the arts. She was the sister of author Virginia Woolf and the wife of art critic Clive Bell whom she married in 1907. The Bells had two sons Julian Bell and Quentin Bell; the couple also had an open marriage and Vanessa Bell had a daughter, Angelica, with the painter Duncan Grant.
Julian Heward Bell (1908-1937) was an English poet and the son of Vanessa Bell and Clive Bell. He was educated at King's College, Cambridge and, in 1935, went to China to teach English at Wuhan University. Though initially a pacifist, by 1937, Bell was more supportive of the socialist and anti-fascist movements and became an ambulance driver for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. After just a month in Spain, he was hit by bomb fragments and died in a military hospital at the age of 29.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchased from Sotheby's (lot 209), July 1980.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Rebecca Tuttle, April 1998; in December 2023, Gayle M. Richardson created a finding aid.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged chronologically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
- Terms of access:
-
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Vanessa Bell letters to Julian Bell, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191