Vanessa Bell (1879-1961)

'Painted in August 1913 by Bell at a summer camp at Brandon on the Norfolk-Suffolk border near Thetford. Among the party were the Olivier sisters (Brynhild, Margery, Noel and Daphne, one of whom is depicted here, possibly Margery) Maynard Keynes, Ka Cox, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry. Grant and Bell both painted versions of the camp site: Noel Olivier wrote to Rupert Brooke that she 'liked to see Duncan and Vanessa at their pictures out in the field'. Grant produced Tents (in two versions, both private collection) and Bell Summer Camp (private collection). For a full account of this holiday and its resulting paintings (and Bell's painted screen for the Omega Workshops) see R. Shone, exhibition catalogue, The Art of Bloomsbury, London, Tate Gallery, 1999, nos 69, 73 and 82' (R. Shone, private correspondence).

We are very grateful to Richard Shone for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.