Their chalky, boldly free interior style was at odds with the largely restrained Victorian and Edwardian domestic fashions that preceded them. Their individualism was communicated through their surface artwork, spilling their interior worlds onto traditionally plain spaces in the home – transforming and vivifying space through their artistry.
The Bloomsbury Group (the London-based circle of intellectuals, writers, and artists active in Bloomsbury between 1904-1940) had a radical taste for personalising their interior spaces – using decorative art to transform their surroundings. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in particular embellished their spaces – as can be seen at Charleston farmhouse, their Sussex base. The creative pair also decorated other interiors for their friends, including Maynard Keynes, the Hutchinsons, Adrian Bell, and the Woolfs. Their style was abstract, naturalistic, geometric, modern, and for some even avant-garde – testament to their belief and motivation that fine art belonged in the everyday.
Many of the interiors decorated by the Bloomsbury group have sadly been lost, whether due to refurbishment or destruction. On a larger scale they decorated Chateau d’Auppegard, Penns-in-the-Rocks, Lefevre Galleries and completed several public project commissions in schools and universities. Grant and Bell also designed several theatrical stage designs. They even worked on Berwick Church’s wall paintings, very close to Charleston farmhouse in Sussex – though not without complaint from the local congregation who viewed their work as too modern for the church. There was also an incident with the Cunard White Star Ltd. Shipping Company, who commissioned Grant and Bell to decorate parts of their new flagship liner, RMS Queen Mary – the designs were initially approved but eventually were pulled by the company’s directors. This resulted in a media storm with many of Grant’s moneyed patrons and friends coming to his support.
The Omega Workshop was set up by Bell and Grant's friend and collaborator, Roger Fry. Omega sold artist-designed carpets, interior furniture, textiles, and light-fittings in a modern style, experimenting with materials as they did so. The designs focussed, like much of their decorative work, on applying simplified form and bright colours to objects in new ways. Pieces produced for Omega were sold without artist acknowledgement or affiliation as Fry strongly believed that objects should be valued and admired for their innate beauty and attractiveness rather than for an affiliated name or designer. Many Omega objects can be found on display at Charleston farmhouse today.
In our interior design climate, that has at times been Marie Kondo’d, hygge’d, and Ikea-fied into perceivable beige monotony, it is exciting (and perhaps not surprising) that several decorative artists have been inspired by the Bloomsbury aesthetic and grown their practices creating perfectly imperfect domestic spaces. Inspired by the seemingly effortless and playful mark-making that defines the Bloomsbury look, there seems to be a trend towards bringing measured colour and joy into domestic and public spaces.
At Superficial, we work on projects that bring life and energy to surfaces for our clients. One of our guiding principles is ‘to hell with minimalism’. Of course, we believe that each surface and project requires careful artistic consideration and contemplated application of colour and form – but we confess that we are true converts and avid proponents for the Bloomsbury group’s ideology that fine art belongs in everyday spaces beyond the frame.