“I applaud this book for bringing to our attention the glories of Bell’s versatility, and her superb use of colour.”—Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Times (UK)“Informative and evocative, a glimpse of a complicated life in one of the most lauded creative milieux of the 20th century. . . . The result is a success; this is a clear and clarifying look at why Vanessa Bell matters.”—Tobias Carroll, Art Newspaper“Beautifully illustrated. . . . As the former curator of the painter’s home at Charleston, Hitchmough writes with insider knowledge, supported by an armoury of scholarship.”—Ariane Bankes, The Spectator“A comprehensive account of the artist’s life.”—The Artist magazine“This impressive account will surely prompt responses similar to Bell’s own reaction to Virginia’s biography of Vanessa’s former lover Roger Fry, published in 1940. Bell wrote to her sister: ‘You have brought him back to me.’”—Matthew Dennison, Country Life“Through this cacophony of letters, connections and history, Hitchmouth gives Bell back the identity Woolf remembers her sister having. That of the person who, as a child ‘scrawl[ed] on a black door a great maze of lines, with white chalk. “When I am a famous painter—” she began, and then turned shy and rubbed it out in her capable way.’”—Alice Vincent, New Statesman“A detailed and illuminating journey through Vanessa Bell’s artistic life.”—Elena Giovanna Fillia, Il Giornale dell’arte“Hitchmough makes a compelling and highly readable case for Bell’s importance as a pioneering modernist, design innovator and cultural leader.”—Helen Rees Leahy, Virginia Woolf Bulletin“Hitchmough effortlessly conjures the daily atmosphere of the artist’s studio, the running of the house and the sheer joy in experimentation and making new.”—Matthew Holliday, Burlington Magazine
