Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Charleston and the Bloomsbury group

 I was here in May. How can ever forget this visit? A humble farmhouse in Sussex, England, the only one left with the memories of having been lived in by the Bloomsbury group. Who were they? They were a group of people, artists and writers, who lived in various homes in the Bloomsbury district of London while at the same time had various country homes. Charleston was one of them. The artists, Vanessa Bell (sister of author Virginia Woolf) and her gay partner, Duncan Grant lived and painted. The house still retained traces of their work. It was restored by the Charleston trust and now is opened to the public.

 A painting of the Bloomsbury group. They met in various homes, talked, partied and worked, married each other, traveled together and their friendship lasted to the end of their individual lives. It is so remarkable and inspiring.
While photography are not allowed inside the house, I was able to scan some pictures of the interiors from various books.

2 comments:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Funnily enough, I'm reading Frances Partridge's autobiography at the moment. Thanks for the pics and the extra information!

annechung said...

Welshcakes, there is a really nice movie, Carrington featuring the life of Dora Carrington with Emma Thompson as Carrington. She lived with her husband Ralph Partridge but was in love with her gay friend, Lytton Strachey. Later Frances joined them in the house and married Dora's husband, Ralph. Dora made 2 attempts at suicide succeeding on the second attempt, she was devastated when Lytton died. I think I watched it free on Youtube. That's the Bloomsbury lifestyle for you!