Chrysanthemums (1920)

Vanessa Bell

oil on canvas

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Physical Object Description:

Inscribed, bottom right: ‘V B 1920’

Dimensions:

61 x 45.7 cm

Accession Number:

N03836

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1924

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased by Sir Edward Marsh (1872-1953) for the Contemporary Art Society, 1923; presented to the Tate Gallery, 1924

Relationship:

Edward 'Eddie' Howard Marsh Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Subject:

Still Life

Chrysanthemums (1920) is the first work by Vanessa Bell to enter the Tate’s collection, having been purchased by the Contemporary Art Society’s Committee Member (and later its Chairman) Sir Edward Marsh (1872-1953) in 1923.

It was previously called ‘Flowers in a Jug’ and the the same jug appears in a watercolour by Duncan Grant. Bell often painted flowerpieces in a domestic interior and stylised flowers are a dominant theme of her dust jacket designs for books written by her sister, Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). After the First World War Bell had rejected her use of bright colours for more sombre tones.

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