Pheasants (1931)

Vanessa Bell

oil on canvas

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Physical Object Description:

Inscribed: 'Vanessa Bell 1931’ bottom right

Dimensions:

90.8 x 73 cm

Accession Number:

N05749

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1946

Scheme:

Sir Kenneth Clark Gift (1946)

Ownership history:

Thomas Agnew & Sons, 1931; purchased by Sir Kenneth Clark (1903-1983); by whom gifted to the Contemporary Art Society, 1946; presented to the Tate Gallery, 1946

Relationship:

Thomas Agnew & Sons, London Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives Kenneth MacKenzie Clark

Subject:

Birds

Vanessa Bell often visited France which this relatively large picture for the artist, with a brace of pheasants, a bottle and a glass of red wine evokes. However, it could have equally been painted in Charleston at Firle in East Sussex where she lived with her husband the art critic Clive Bell (1881-1964) – who had just published An Account of French Painting (1931) along with her three children, Julian (1908-1937), Quentin (1910-1996) and Angelica (1918-2012) as well with Duncan Grant (1885-1978), her daughter’s biological father, and his lover David Garnett (1892-1981), who later married Bell’s daughter. It was purchased by Sir Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) from her exhibition at Agnew’s in the winter of 1931.

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