Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism

FAIN: FA-251716-17

Mark Hussey
Pace University (New York, NY 10038-1502)

The first intellectual biography of British writer Clive Bell (1881-1964), member of the Bloomsbury Group and a pivotal figure in the artistic, social, and political movements of early 20th-century modernism.

An intellectual biography that follows Clive Bell’s life and critical thought from his early pacifist writing and essays on aesthetics, through publication in 1914 of his widely influential book Art, to friendships in the first half of the twentieth century with Picasso, Segonzac, Derain, Vlaminck, Diaghilev, Cocteau and other major figures of European modernism including T. S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf. Bell’s theory of “significant form” continues to be an important part of the history of aesthetics, and has received attention recently even from neuroscientists as providing insight into brain function in the encounter with visual art. In addition to lecturing internationally and writing many articles and books on modern art, Bell became an outspoken champion of liberty in his post-First World War cultural criticism, continuing to emphasize the vital role of the arts in a free society.

Media Coverage

The Don Juan of Bloomsbury (Review)
Author(s): laura Freeman
Publication: The Times
Date: 3/20/2021
Abstract: review

Clive Bell (Review)
Author(s): Kathryn Hughes
Publication: The Guardian
Date: 5/8/2021
Abstract: Book review

Aesthete of Gordon Sqaure (Review)
Author(s): Frances Spalding
Publication: Literary Review
Date: 4/1/2021

Apostle of Modernism (Review)
Author(s): Tom Williams
Publication: Spectator
Date: 4/21/2021
Abstract: Book review

Book of the Week (Media Coverage)
Publication: Country Life
Date: 5/5/2021

A Life of His Own (Review)
Author(s): Francesca Wade
Publication: Apollo
Date: 6/1/2021
Abstract: Review

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