Duncan Grant

A biography of Bloomsbury Group figure and post-impressionist painter and designer Duncan Grant (1885-1978). Grant emerges as a mercurial, impractical, often histrionic and jealous man, who was also endearingly down-to-earth and indifferent to fame, and who hobnobbed with people at all levels of society, always eager to partake of new experiences. Drawing on Grant's unpublished memoirs, letters and diaries, the author illuminates Grant's complex private life, from his relationship with painter Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolfe's sister), to his numerous sexual affairs. Enlivened by photographs and art reproductions, this biography scans Grant's entire body of work, from portraits, landscapes and mythological scenes to erotic art, ceramics, costume and set design.