Oil painting, Composition with Hat, Dove and Fruit, by Duncan Grant, 1925, part of set by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant for the sitting room of 6 Endsleigh Place, London, WC1

Decorative painting of an upturned hat containing grapes and other fruit. A dove perches on the right-hand edge of the hat. Curtains on each side.

Given by Raymond Mortimer

Given by Raymond Mortimer, 1953

Historical significance: This decorative mural painting is one of a set of five given to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1953 by Raymond Mortimer, one of the most notable critics of his generation, literary editor of the New Statesman (1935-47), and chief reviewer for the Sunday Times (1948-1952). The paintings all came from Mortimer's sitting room at 6, Endsleigh Place, London WC1, where they had formed part of the room's decoration since their execution in 1925 by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell (Mortimer had moved out of the flat in 1952 to a house in Islington, prompting the gift). In asking Grant and Bell to decorate his flat, Mortimer was inspired by the decorative paintings which they had done in the flat belonging to his friend Clive Bell (Vanessa's estranged husband) at 50 Gordon Square.

Grant and Bell were co-directors of the Omega workshops which was founded by Roger Fry in 1913. With the Omega firm they sought to break down what they saw as the false distinction between the fine and decorative arts, bringing to their designs the visual language of Post Impressionism: bright colours and bold, simplified forms.

In 1944 Raymond Mortimer contributed a volume on Duncan Grant to the influential Penguin Modern Painters series.

These decorative mural paintings are part of a set of five by Bloomsbury Group artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, which were given to the museum by Raymond Mortimer, one of the most notable critics of his generation. The paintings were part of the decorative scheme for the sitting room of Mortimer’s London flat. Grant and Bell were co-directors of the Omega workshops, founded in 1913 by fellow Bloomsbury Group member Roger Fry. With the Omega firm, they sought to break down what they saw as the false distinction between the fine and decorative arts, bringing to their designs the visual language of Post Impressionism in the use of bright colours and bold, simplified forms.

P.6-1953