Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors at the Garden Museum

By Grayson Brewer

The Bloomsbury Group was a collective of artists, writers, and intellectuals formed in the early 20th century. Known for their progressive artistic, political, and social views, they challenged traditional Victorian values and promoted modernism in literature and visual arts. Key members included the writer Virginia Woolf, her sister the artist Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, among others. Their gatherings often took place in the homes of the group's members, most notably at Charleston Farmhouse and Monk's House, both in Sussex. The Bloomsbury Group’s work left a lasting legacy in modern British art and their influence continues into the contemporary sphere.

From May 15 to September 29, 2024, the exhibition Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors took place at the Garden Museum. Located in the former church of St Mary’s at Lambeth, the Garden Museum celebrates British garden design and history through a permanent collection of gardening tools and artefacts as well as botanical art, photography and paintings. Whilst the museum was never on my radar before, this exhibition attracted me. Gardening Bohemia focused on the lives of four Bloomsbury women and the green spaces they surrounded themselves with: Virginia Woolf and her garden at Monk’s house, Vanessa Bell, whose studio and garden was nearby at Charleston, arts patron and photographer Lady Ottiline Morrell at Garsington Manor, and writer Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst Castle.

[Figure 1] Left: Duncan Grant, Garden Path in Spring, 1944 © The estate of Duncan Grant. DACS 2023. Photo: Tate;

Right: Vanessa Bell, View into a Garden, 1926 © Bolton Museum and Art Gallery / © Estate of Vanessa Bell. DACS 2023.

Guest curator, Dr Claudia Tobin explained that the theme of the exhibition was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel A Room of One’s Own and the idea that women need to find a creative space in order to pursue their creative life. Gardening Bohemia explored how each of the women’s gardens acted as a place of sanctuary and creative experimentation in a tumultuous political climate. Although their gardens had different meanings to each of them, each of the women found something special in them.

The exhibition was very dense in terms of content, featuring paintings, photographs, textiles, manuscripts, garden tools, and correspondence, many of which had never before been on public view. It took place in a smaller exhibition space within the museum, and was divided into four sections, each dedicated to one of the women. At times it felt rather crowded, due to the small size of the room and lots of objects with small labels placed close together. As it was particularly busy at the time I visited, it was difficult to get an up-close look at objects and works or read their individual texts. Upon entering, viewers were greeted with a section on Lady Ottiline Morrell and Garsington, the earliest of the four gardens to be established. Morrell was a patron of the arts, often hosting prominent Bloomsbury figures in her home. She dabbled in photography herself, to which her garden provided a main backdrop [Fig. 2]. During the First World War, Garsington acted as a refuge. Her husband, Philip Morrell was a Liberal MP, and he and Ottiline opposed the war. They aimed to make Garsington a centre of free discussion and enabled individuals to avoid military conscription by employing them as agricultural labourers.

[Figure 2] Collection of photographs by Lady Ottiline Morrell including 1917 photo album, Album 3 (Image courtesy of author)

The proceeding section was dedicated to Vanessa Bell at Charleston. In 1916 Bell moved to Charleston, a Sussex farmhouse with a charming garden, with painter Duncan Grant. For the rest of their lives, the garden became a source of inspiration for their work and acted as an outdoor studio [Fig. 3]

[Figure 3] Roger Fry, Summer in the Garden, 1911, Oil on panel; The Barn at Charleston, c.1930, Oil on canvas; Paper Flowers, 1917, Oil on canvas (Image courtesy of author)

Bloomsbury art critic and painter Roger Fry designed the walled garden, including box hedges containing a lawn and rectangular pond, complimented by a colourful array of flower beds. During the First World War, Grant and his lover David Garnett, worked the land at Charleston as war work. Charleston again became a refuge during the Second World War, in some eyes removed from and out of touch with the conflict going on at the time.

The third section focuses on Virginia Woolf and her writing lodge at Monk’s House, a 16th century cottage in Rodmell, Sussex. The intensity and mystery of the natural world surrounding her inspired many of her experimental novels, essays, and reviews. Virginia and her husband Leonard moved to Monk’s house shortly after the First World War. It became a creative sanctuary, especially when she experienced periods of mental health crisis, until her death in 1941. Taking on the design of the garden himself, Leonard created a series of ‘garden rooms’ linked by pathways with herbaceous borders and flint walls. There was a combination of traditional cottage flowers and uncommon foreign flora. The garden became a source of pride to the couple, providing creative inspiration and a place of restoration.

The final section of the exhibition was on Vita Sackville-West. In 1930 she and her husband, politician and writer Harold Nicholson, began designing the gardens at Sissinghurst Castle in Sussex. The gardens became a lifelong project for them, each section focusing on a different theme, colour, or layout scheme. Out of the four women featured, Sackville-West seemed to be most interested in the act of gardening itself [Fig. 4]. The gardens at Sissinghurst became a mode of escape for Sackville-West, inspiring much of her poetry and garden writing.

[Figure 4] Vita Sackville-West’s Gardening tools, Sissinghurst Castle, National Trust (Image courtesy of author)

Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors ultimately offered an inspiring new lens to view the Bloomsbury Group. Focusing on the ways in which these four women interacted with their green spaces in both their personal lives and their art, the garden emerges as a place of sanctuary and inspiration.

Bibliography

Pulver, Andrew. “How four gardens became important spaces of experimentation and creativity for the Bloomsbury Group women”. The Art Newspaper, 2024. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/05/03/how-four-gardens-became-important-spaces-of-experimentation-and-creativity-for-the-bloomsbury-group-women. 

Garden Museum. “Gardening Bohemia: Bloomsbury Women Outdoors”. Garden Museum, 2024. https://gardenmuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/gardening-bohemia-bloomsbury-women-outdoors/?srsltid=AfmBOorAm_cgGLZsiRmCuS1YDy22h7oYJVr0-9pvogL-psVE-DiVD9tT .