Bloomsbury set exhibition hosted by Sotheby's

Charleston in East Sussex is full of art and artefacts relating to the Bloomsbury Group

LEE ROBINS An interior image of Charleston House, containing many artefacts, art work and furniture by members of the Bloomsbury Group. — Charleston in East Sussex is full of art and artefacts relating to the Bloomsbury Group

The work of the Bloomsbury Group is to be celebrated at an exhibition in November.

Held at Sotheby's in London, Radical Modernity: From Bloomsbury to Charleston will feature artefacts from the set's Sussex home near Firle, some not usually on public display.

The group, which included the sisters Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell, and the artists Duncan Grant and Roger Fry, influenced art, furniture, ceramics and literature.

Originating in London, the Bloomsbury Group gravitated to Charleston in East Sussex, where Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant worked from 1914 until her death in 1961.

Duncan Grant's portrait of the economist John Maynard Keynes is part of the exhibition

THE CHARLESTON TRUST A portrait by Duncan Grant of John Maynard Keynes writing in a notebook, while wearing a light grey suit, white shirt and a red hat. — Duncan Grant's portrait of the economist John Maynard Keynes is part of the exhibition

Charleston is now the home of the Bloomsbury collection.

Designer Kim Jones, who helped curate the Sotheby's exhibition, was appointed vice president of Charleston in 2024.

He said: “I first went to Charleston when I was around 14, to go sketching in the garden, and I still have the brochure from that day.

"It was the centre of the Bloomsbury universe, down in Sussex, and it brought everyone together – and this sense of art connecting people is something that carries through even now.”

THE CHARLSETON TRUST A brown urn with two handles, glazed with a black abstract pattern, the work of Bloomsbury group artist Duncan Grant — A glazed pot by Duncan Grant

One of the Charleston paintings on loan for the exhibition is Duncan Grant's 1917 portrait of the economist John Maynard Keynes, who is shown writing in the house's garden.

The group also founded the Omega Workshops to produce fabrics, furniture and ceramics for sale to the public, with several examples included in the exhibition, including a silk robe, embroidered and hand-block printed by the avant garde artist Percy Wyndham Lewis.