Charleston Farmhouse, A Photo Essay, Part Two, Interiors, Some Paintings

To learn more about the paintings and art objects in the house, visit the official website Charleston In Focus: https://www.charleston.org.uk/in-focus/

 

Above, Vanessa Bell (1879–1961), Painting at La Souco, painted by Duncan Grant (1885–1978)

Above, Duncan Grant, Self-Portrait In A Turban circa 1909

Above, a self-portrait by Vanessa Bell

Above, The Kitchen At Charleston, East Sussex 

by Vanessa Bell circa 1943

Above, Chattie Salaman circa 1940 by Vanessa Bell

Above, painted by Quentin Bell, 

Pots Et Citron (copy of Pablo Picasso) circa1958

Above, Helen Anrep In The Dining Room At Charleston, East Sussex painted by Duncan Grant circa 1945

Below, Portrait Of Keynes painted by Duncan Grant

On the wall above, the small lower framed painting is The Policeman by George Bergen. The bust is of Vanessa Bell.

The painting above titled Julian Bell Writing was rendered in oils by Duncan Grant circa 1928. It hangs in Vanessa Bell's bedroom just as she left it at her death in 1961. This was painted around the time Julian was studying at Cambridge. Though his mother Vanessa, and his Aunt Virgina tried to talk him out of it, Julian enlisted to fight with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War against the Spanish dictator General Franco and his forces. At the age of 29, he was killed in action after only a month of serving as an ambulance driver. 

The framed painting above is by Vanessa Bell, 

The Weaver circa 1937

Above, Portrait Of Vanessa Bell painted by Duncan Grant.

Above, Self-Portrait circa 1910 by Duncan Grant.

Above, The Forum, Rome by Vanessa Bell circa 1935.

Above, Adrian Stephen painted by Duncan Grant circa 1910.

"In Vanessa's later years she worked in a new studio, in the attic; after her death, Duncan, who stayed on in the house, gradually made the downstairs studio his living quarters."

Janet Malcolm from A House Of One's Own

Charleston Farmhouse, A Photo Essay, Part One, Some Exterior Views

 

"Nessa & Clive live, as I think, much like great ladies in a French salon; they have all the wits & the poets; & Nessa sits among them like a Goddess."

Virginia Woolf

"Charleston Farmhouse, in Sussex, which Vanessa began to rent in 1916 as a country retreat, and where she and Duncan and (sometimes) Clive lived together for extended periods, was restored in the 1980s and opened to the public."

from Janet Malcom's essay, A House Of One's Own

"A trust was formed, money was raised, and the place is now a museum, complete with a gift shop, teas, lectures, a twice-yearly magaine, and a summer-study program." 

Janet Malcom

 

"Without the decorations, it is doubtful whether the house would have been preserved."

Janet Malcolm

"Because of them, the legend of Bloomsbury has a site: readers of the novel of Bloomsbury need no longer imagine; they can now actually enter the rooms where some of the most dramatic scenes took place, can look out the windows the characters looked out of, can tread on the carpets they tread on and stroll the garden they strolled in."

Janet Malcolm 

"It is as if Mansfield Park itself had been opened up to us as an accompaniment to our reading of the novel."

Janet Malcolm

In her essay, A House Of One's Own, Janet Malcolm describes a visit on a "cold, gray day" in December and how she felt the house's "Chekovian beauty and sadness."

We visited in early summer, coping with rain showers, taking a public bus from the town of Lewes where we were staying for a few nights. The busses don't run that often and tend to fly along the motorway past the narrow road that leads to the farmhouse. A much easier visit if you have a car, but worth your time if you have any interest in Bloomsbury. 

As we were the only passengers on the bus, and it was a Saturday, the driver was quite accomodating and dropped us off at a public stop about half a mile on foot through farmland to the parking area and the house's entrance.