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Decorative border with red curtain

Oil Painting
1925 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Oil painting


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleDecorative border with red curtain (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on panel
Brief description
Oil painting, Decorative Border with Red Curtain, by Vanessa Bell, 1925, part of set by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant for the sitting room of 6 Endsleigh Place, London, WC1
Physical description
Oil painting
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 251.5cm
  • Estimate width: 58cm
Dimensions taken from Summary catalogue of British Paintings, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973
Credit line
Given by Raymond Mortimer
Object history
Given by Raymond Mortimer, 1953
Historical context
The ensemble is shown on Pl. 73 of The New Interior Decoration by Dorothy Todd and Raymond Mortimer, London, 1929. Todd was editor of Vogue between 1922 and 1926 and immediately became popular with the Bloomsbury set for wanting to increase the literary content of the magazine. Alongside her partner Madge Garland, they transformed the arts content of Vogue but were ushered out of the post after just four years, credited partly to their desire to change the magazine, and also for their progressive stance on LGBT issues. Whilst it was a time of great progress and increased liberty in the interwar years, the speed with which change appeared to be happening caused a slew of draconian laws to be drafted such as the infamous 'Hays Code' of censorship in Hollywood films beginning in 1930, and the equally homophobic obscenity code which banned any mention of depiction of homosexuality on the New York stage starting in 1927. Openly lesbian, Todd and Garland inspired many of their friends in the arts to create works dedicated to them. Their friend Frederick Ashton created two characters in his ballet 'The Tragedy of Fashion' in 1926.
Subjects depicted
Associated object
P.4-1953 (Set)
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings Accessions 1953 London: HMSO, 1963
Collection
Accession number
P.3-1953

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Record createdFebruary 27, 2007
Record URL
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