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Vanessa Bell (née Stephen), 1879–1961

Design for Overmantel

1912 to 1913

This painting is an early design for the wall above the fireplace in Vanessa Bell’s own studio at 46 Gordon Square, in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, the house to which she moved with her siblings (including her sister, the novelist Virginia Woolf) in 1904. The house was later occupied by the economist John Maynard Keynes, himself a member of the Bloomsbury Group and lover of Duncan Grant. Domestic decoration was central to Bell’s career. She was a key contributor to the short-lived Omega Workshops, a cooperative design workshop founded by her friend Roger Fry in 1913. Omega aimed to spread the Bloomsbury aesthetic through the applied arts and simultaneously break down the division between traditional notions of the fine and decorative arts. Although Omega went out of business in 1919, Bell continued to work as a designer and decorator in the interwar period.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020

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Vanessa Bell (née Stephen), 1879–1961, Design for Overmantel, 1912 to 1913, Oil on paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, B1992.14.1.
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This painting is an early design for the wall above the fireplace in Vanessa Bell’s own studio at 46 Gordon Square, in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, the house to which she moved with her siblings (including her sister, the novelist Virginia Woolf) in 1904. The house was later occupied by the economist John Maynard Keynes, himself a member of the Bloomsbury Group and lover of Duncan Grant. Domestic decoration was central to Bell’s career. She was a key contributor to the short-lived Omega Workshops, a cooperative design workshop founded by her friend Roger Fry in 1913. Omega aimed to spread the Bloomsbury aesthetic through the applied arts and simultaneously break down the division between traditional notions of the fine and decorative arts. Although Omega went out of business in 1919, Bell continued to work as a designer and decorator in the interwar period.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2020
This painting is an early design for the wall above the fireplace in Vanessa Bell’s own studio at 46 Gordon Square, in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, the house to which she moved with her siblings (including her sister, the novelist Virginia Woolf) in 1904. The house was later occupied by the economist John Maynard Keynes, himself a member of the Bloomsbury Group and lover of Duncan Grant. Domestic decoration was central to Bell’s career. She was a key contributor to the short-lived Omega Workshops, a cooperative design workshop founded by her friend Roger Fry in 1913. Omega aimed to spread the Bloomsbury aesthetic through the applied arts and simultaneously break down the division between traditional notions of the fine and decorative arts. Although Omega went out of business in 1919, Bell continued to work as a designer and decorator in the interwar period.

Women Artist-Activists in Britain, 1880-1945: Creating a Room of One's Own (Clark Art Institute, 2025-06-14 - 2025-09-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Vanessa Bell (1879 - 1961) (Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2017-02-08 - 2017-06-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Art of Bloomsbury : Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant (Yale Center for British Art, 2000-05-20 - 2000-09-03) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

The Art of Bloomsbury : Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant (Tate Britain, 1999-11-04 - 2000-01-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

The Art of Bloomsbury : Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 1999-02-26 - 2000-04-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

A room of her own : women artist-activists in Britain, 1875-1945, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, p. 173, no. 38, N6767 .R66 2025 Oversize (YCBA) [OCLC]

Wendy Hitchmough, Vanessa Bell : the art and life of a Bloomsbury radical, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2025, pp. 138-140, fig. 7.9, NJ18 .B3907 H584 2025 (YCBA) [OCLC]

Sarh Milroy, Vanessa Bell, London, New York, 2017, p. 81, NJ18 B3907 +A12 2017 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Richard Shone, The art of Bloomsbury, Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant , Tate Publishing, London, 1999, p. 147, cat. no. 70, ND468.5 B55 S56 1999 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

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