Vanessa Bell: A Rediscovery

October 2027 – February 2028
Project Space

Encounter a major new acquisition from the Omega Workshops to the Courtauld’s leading Bloomsbury Group collection.

An important new addition to the Courtauld’s leading collection of art by the Bloomsbury Group will go on display in October 2027. Previously unknown and not seen in public in over a century, this pair of painted wooden panels, attributed to Vanessa Bell (1879 – 1961), was made at the Omega Workshops in London between 1913 and 1916. The Omega Workshops were a collective of avant-garde artists who made and sold experimental domestic wares, including painted wooden furniture, textiles, rugs and ceramics, and had a significant influence on artists of the 20th century.

Originally the doors of a wardrobe, the panels feature two stylised female figures wearing the style of dresses sold at the Omega from the middle of 1915. Acquired the year the Omega Workshops closed in 1919, they have remained in the same family ever since and have been generously donated to the Courtauld, where they have undergone a major conservation project.

This display is included in the Permanent Collection or Permanent Collection + Exhibition ticket. 

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